When Waves and Flames Unite
by MewMahiNia
Summary: Mika meets Leo Valdez and goes to Camp Half-Blood. Has Leo found a girl that returns his feelings? Her friends, Skandar and Lucy are pulled in with her. Will they survive? What happens when two quests are launched at once? And how will the Argo 11 fly? How will they defeat Gaia? And where are Piper and Jason? Leo/OC Piper/Jason Percy/Annabeth Nico/OC Reyna/OC Frank/Hazel
1. Locket

Locket

Mika loved the beach, she loved the sea and she loved Greece, all of them were here and she was beaming. Breathing in the warm summer air she took off her blue-rimmed glasses (which she hardly wore, today was a special occasion because she wanted to see the island Crete) to wipe the water droplets on her patterned tank top. She set them back on and looked down at the sea. It looked beautiful, clear as turquoise glass that sparkled in afternoon sun.

Slowly she walked on the golden sand towards the water, her bare feet feeling the warmth, she'd left her sandals at the top of the sand bank. It seemed to be a calm day for sea, the waves gently rolling in, picking up sand and dropping it while retreating. The water felt cold at first but as Mika got used to it the coolness spread over her feet and wherever else it touched. She saw the ripples she made spread over the water and disappear in the horizon. She rolled her capris up so that she could go deeper; careful not to step on any shells she stepped further in. She brushed a stray lock of her dark hair away from her face. Her hair was rather interesting, sometimes after washing, it was straight and sometimes it was curly, but mostly it had light curls that looked more like waves. In a similar way in some lightings her hair and eyes appeared caramel or light brown and in others, dark brown or black.

Sighing, she looked up at the sky, there was the sun blazing overhead, not a cloud in sight. Surely her light tan skin would tan a lot in this heat! Mika hardly ever got sunburns, so if she was out for a short time, she didn't bother putting any sunscreen on. She stood there for a while staring out at the gentle waves and getting some peace for herself. Usually her parents wouldn't let her out alone, but the beach was close to the hotel and she had turned 12 in February. This kind of quiet was something special for her, having 3 siblings. One younger brother named Nico who was 10, he was very nice but loud and sometimes he got a bit annoying. She had an elder brother Apallo who was 14, everyone called him Allo, but he was such a show off and could be very demanding. Both brothers looked very much like their father, Cleon Kennedy, light brown hair with blue eyes and a sturdy figure. All of them were popular while at school. Layla (who was 13) with her light brown shoulder-length hair with blue eyes and a kind, but sometimes over-perfect attitude was very like Mika's mother, Jacinda Kennedy.

Checking her sea themed watch, she realized it was time for her to get back to the hotel. Fast-walking up to her brown sandals, planning to slip them on and run to the hotel, she noticed something glittering in the sand to her right, towards the rocks. Having something of a curious nature, she went towards the object. There, in the sand lay the most enchanting locket she had ever seen. It was mostly covered in sand and she couldn't see anyone on the beach, so she assumed it was lying there for a long time. If it meant anything to anyone, likely it would have been found already.

Picking it up she studied it, it was about the size of a small acorn and in the shape of a heart. The back was smooth silver with the most beautiful engravings she had ever seen, the front was something shell-like covered in mother of pearl. Closer to the bottom of the shiny surface was set a stunning blue sapphire, cut perfect and twinkling, it looked like a hexagon on top of a bigger one, catching the suns light and reflecting it on Mika's face. Above the sapphire, were written words that she didn't understand, but they were written in the most elegant and graceful manner, that she supposed they were probably charming words as well. Both sides were held together with a polished bronze clasp, a thin line of bronze ran around the whole shape of the heart, giving it a magical effect.

Not that Mika hadn't already decided this object must have something magical about it, she could feel the power, it had to be! Deciding it wouldn't be safe leaving it lying there (who knew what would happen if it got in the wrong hands) she picked it up and hung the silver chain around her neck. The locket felt cool on her skin and with a jolt she remembered that she should be getting back.

Leo was walking to the beach, he sighed, finally some peace. As he stepped on the sand, he saw a slim figure in front of him. It was a girl. Not wanting her to see him, he ran towards the rocks and hid behind them. Slowly he peered out and saw her face, his heart stopped. She was beautiful, twinkling brown eyes, long wavy chestnut hair hair, light pink cheeks and a slightly tanned face. He watched as she moved deeper in the water and brushed a strand of hair away from her face. Leo was in love, again. And the girl seemed out of his league, again.

Running up to the hotel Coronis, only pausing to slip her brown leather sandals on, Mika flung the entrance doors open and fast-walked into the lobby. It had a cool, relaxed but sophisticated atmosphere to it, with white marble floors and polished wood pillars, the lobby was huge. To the right of the glass entrance doors: a curtain of water in the corner with 2 palm trees on either side, the entrance to the souvenir shop, the door leading to the pool, spa, exercise room etc. with a children's play centre and a corridor leading to the bathrooms.

To the left of the entrance doors: comfy sofas in all cool colours (green, blue, purple) with white tables on a light purple carpet, a lit-up bar and the entrance to the restaurant. In front of the doors was the polished mahogany reception desk in the shape of a three quarters-oval with a lavender stand with maps and brochures on them. To the right and left of the desk were 2 silver lifts. On the purple ceiling hung a small crystal chandelier and the walls were painted white with little designs on them. She loved the lobby, it was good place to just look at and have a small snack at the bar. But right now she was in a hurry, she went straight to the restaurant, where her family was waiting.

Muttering a "sorry" and "lost track of time" she sat in-between Nico and Layla. Slowly she raised her face to look at her parents, fortunately they didn't look mad at all, they looked pretty happy. Looking at the blue cloth-covered buffet tables with white containers and cutlery, matching with the blue carpet and white walls, she felt a kind of sailor feeling. She took off her glasses and put them in their case in her mini-shoulder bag. The food looked delicious, so the whole family got up and starting piling their plates! Mika returned to the table with a small sandwich and some pasta on her plate with a glass of orange juice. Mika was a strict vegetarian, just like her mom and Layla.

"Mika where were you?" asked Nico between mouthfuls.

"I was just at the beach," answered Mika.

"I bet that's _all_ she's gonna do the rest of the summer" interrupted Allo.

"Allo, not now, you're probably only going to watch T.V the rest of these 2 weeks, too" Layla remarked.

"No, he won't, he'll play with me and I'm going to help him get his hat back!" commented Nico.

Layla had an evil grin on her face, "He'll only get it back when he says sorry."

"I'm not going to say sorry, so you better give it back to me before I take your necklace away," retorted Allo.

"Allo, don't you dare, that's special to Layla and if you do, Michael will beat you up!" Mika exclaimed, she knew it was a present from Layla's friend.

"My hat is also special to me and Michael won't beat me up, he's my friend too!" Allo countered.

"Why don't you just give the hat back, Layla?" demanded Nico.

"He hasn't said sorry yet…" Layla grumbled.

"Now kids, please be quiet and enjoy the lunch," said Mr. Kennedy, trying to have a peaceful meal for once.

"Children, we're going to a special restaurant tomorrow evening, please behave yourselves there!" instructed Mrs. Kennedy.

Mom always says that, even though she knows that we do, but it was hard for Mika to sit still for that long. She knew she nearly had ADHD and constantly had to be doing something. Sometimes, when it was quiet and peaceful she could enjoy the calm and be still, but that wasn't always, Mika thought. Finishing her food, she excused herself.

She took the hotel room card out of her dark green mini-shoulder bag and headed for one of the silver elevators. Not seeing the "CAUTION: WET FLOOR" sign, she ran to the elevators and slipped on the water. Falling forwards into the open elevator, she didn't have time to for anything herself, but someone else did. That someone caught her and held her upright by the waist, she looked up at the face of this someone. It was "Leo!" she half whispered, half-spoke. He was just as she had imagined him, black curly hair, deep brown eyes, light freckles on his round face and a smile, always a smile. "Yeah…" he said still smiling which quickly dropped to a confused frown "How do you know me?" Mika didn't have time to answer, her locket began to glow and the overall shock of everything was too much for her. Her vision started to blacken out and she fainted.

The last thing she remembered was Leo catching her. Again. This time she stayed in his arms.


	2. Mystery

Mystery

Leo couldn't believe it, there he was, sitting in his hotel room with a girl he didn't even know, passed out and lying on his bed. Just great. He'd carried her to his room on the 3rd floor, she was actually light, but he wondered why she'd fainted like that. Was it because of him? He smiled to himself, girls just had to appear, don't they? But how did she know him? Maybe she'd seen him on the beach, hiding from her, but that didn't explain how she knew his name. Taking some gears and wires out from his toolbelt he started making a miniature car.

He looked down at her light-tanned face and her flushed cheeks, her locket by her side. While the locket had been glowing, somehow the chain had snapped, but he had fixed it (that girl will thank me) and it was quite easy for him being a kid of Hephaestus. Looking over at the girl's slim figure he noticed the shoulder bag laying by her waist. Leo was getting quite restless, having ADHD, so he gently slipped it off her shoulder and turned it over in his pale hands.

He could sense a hidden pocket somewhere and after searching a little bit he found it. He simply had to pull a key ring and a little bit of cloth came out, under a hidden flap was a zip, which he unzipped, then he took out a small key. Unzipping the main pocket, under another hidden flap, was another zip with a lock, he put the key in the lock and unzipped that pocket. He knew he shouldn't be doing this, but hey, that girl owed him, he'd only saved her from bonking her head twice and fixed her locket.

Reaching in, he felt the cover of a small book, which he took out and looked at. The front and back were a thin layer of soft plum felt, in the front were written two words in silver cursive. He tried to read them, with his dyslexia acting up it took him a while, but finally he read: Mika's Notes.

Opening the book to a random off-white page, he saw in bold print royal blue lettering, his name! There it was, his full name, Leo Valdez, under it was supposedly some notes, he didn't feel like reading them, but he could catch a few words here and there: Esperanza, Piper, Dylan, Camp, Jason, Festus, Fire… The next few pages were all about his life, then came Piper and after that, Jason. Flipping closer to the beginning he saw Percy, Annabeth, Thalia and some others!

How did this girl know about everyone? If she went to camp, then he would have remembered her and if she had talked to him, he definitely would! He put her book back, put the lock back on, put the key back and zipped all the pockets. He set her khaki bag back on the white silken sheets of the wooden framed bed. Getting very restless, he stared at the white ceiling, the dark blue and green carpet, the cyan walls and out the window at the beautiful view.

Then he looked back at Mika, she was pretty, her dark-brown glossy hair was messy, her capris had sand on them and there was a little bit of tomato sauce on her t-shirt, yep definitely pretty. Suddenly her eyes fluttered open and she saw Leo staring at her, she smiled. But her expression changed to confusion as she took in her surroundings, she sat up.

"Where am I?" she asked.

"On Earth," joked Leo.

She smiled "Yeah, well I know that, but who's room is this?"

"Mine"

"Oh… You're alone?"

"No, there's another person right in front of me, asking me questions"

"Leo!"

"Ok, ok yes I'm alone"

"But-"

But Leo cut her off "First I need answers, then you ask me whatever you want"

"All right…"

"How do you know who I am and my life? Where did you find out about demigods and Camp Half-Blood? Are you a demigod? Who's your godly parent? Where are you from? Are you like a seer? How do you know almost everything about Percy, Annabeth, Thalia, Jason, Piper and the others?" He paused to take breath and Mika seized the chance.

"Whoa, whoa slow down there, have you been looking in my bag?

He had a guilty look on his face "Um, maybe"

"Right, ADHD and super sensing powers"

"Yep, that's me, but can you answer my questions now?"

"Ok, well I know everything about demigods, you, the others and Camp Half-Blood, through a book. I don't know if I'm a demigod and about my godly parent, because I'm adopted. I am not some crazy seer! I live in Germany, but I don't know where I'm from, my parents said I appeared at their doorstep."

"A book?"

"Yes, have you heard of Rick Riordan?"

"Um… Might have, I don't have that much of a memory"

"Well he wrote the books and there is a lot of info there, so I wrote some in my notebook"

There was a silence as Leo took this in "So there's some dude who somehow knows about my life and of other demigods and wrote down all the quests and prophecies?"

"Yes, but he actually told the whole story and put them in"

They were quite for a while and Mika noticed that she wasn't wearing the locket anymore.

"Leo?"

"Yes"

"Have you seen my locket?"

"It's right there, while it was glowing, the chain snapped and I fixed it, but now

it's shorter, so I put a clasp on it"

"Thank you!"

"Welcome" He picked it up and asking Mika to hold her hair up, he put the chain around her neck and fixed the clasp on. As his fingers brushed her skin, she blushed, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Thanks!"

"Welcome again"

"I owe you a lot"

"Yep, you do" He liked that.

"What can I do for you?"

He thought for a while and finally decided "How about your name?"

Mika laughed, "Lets do this formally, Hi I'm Mika Kennedy"

"Hello, I'm Leo Valdez, pleased to meet you" with an English accent so false, that Mika cracked up as he shook her hand.

When she stopped laughing, she said, "How about you come to dinner with my family tomorrow night, I won't owe as much, right?

"Sure, if your parents agree" Blushing, she'd just invited him out!

"I'll just tell them that I owe you and you might know something about my real family"

"Thanks!"

"Um, just a question, do you still like Thalia?" she asked

He fake-coughed, to cover up the laugh that had escaped his mouth "No"

"What happened?"

Should he tell her, would she think he was completely worthless? No she wouldn't, he could trust her, there was something about her…

"She, um, pushed me off a canoe and Percy had to come save me"

"Ouch!"

"You said it"

"Sorry, Leo, but I have to go now, my parents should be worrying" she got off the bed and straightened her clothes.

"That's ok, sorry for keeping you" he stood up, too.

"That's fine, you saved me after all and thank you so much for everything!" she headed for the doorway. She turned around while opening the door and looked back at Leo. "Bye, Leo"

"Bye, Mika"

They looked in each other's eyes for a moment and blushing Mika stepped out of the door and closed it behind her. Yep, Leo definitely liked this girl, he sat down on the bed, thinking of her shining chocolaty eyes.


	3. Candle

Candle

Mika sighed has she toweled her hair dry, she was so happy! From the moment she first read about Leo in the book, she'd wanted to meet him and now she had! She hummed her favourite song "Sparks Fly" as she brushed her now dry and shiny hair.

She was going to tell Leo that her parents had agreed, they were suspicious at first, but when she had told them that he might now something about her real parents, then they readily agreed. She was going to go tell him and then get changed for the restaurant.

Once her hair wasn't frizzing anymore, she told her parents that she was leaving and set out for the lobby, he ought to be there, if not she would look in his room. She's seen the number when she left yesterday, 322, it was only 2 rooms away from her and Layla's room, 325.

She stopped humming as she stepped out of the elevator and scanned the lobby for any sight of a grinning curly-head. No sign of him. She headed for the sofas and chairs, maybe he was somewhere there. She was about to turn and go to his room, when she felt someone tapping her shoulder and a familiar voice saying "Looking for someone?" She turned around and saw Leo there, smiling at her.

"Um, maybe, anyways where were you?"

"In my room"

"Shoot, I knew I should have looked there first!"

He laughed. "Well, what did your parents say?"

"They're happy to have you along!"

"That's nice, are all parents like that?"

"Actually, sometimes my parents can be really unfair, but it come to other people and school, they always trust me" she said proudly

His face was, for the first time, sad.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I say something insulting?" she asked in a worried voice

"No, no, it's just sometimes it gets lonely, but don't worry, I have my friends"

"Ok! This might sound random, but how old are you?" She steered him towards the elevator.

"I'm 14, you?"

"I'm 12, but since you are 14 that means you're in my brother's grade, 9th right?"

"Oh, what's his name?"

"Allo, he's the oldest, then comes Layla, then me and last Nico"

"Are they nice?" He asked as they got in the elevator

"Well Layla and Nico are, but Allo is so mean!" Making a face.

"Then we'll get along just fine"

"Leo…"

"All right!" They got out and headed towards the rooms

"Ok, meet us in the lobby at 7"

"Right, see you"

"Oh and please wear something nice, ok?"

"Yes, but why?"

"It's a fancy restaurant, 5 stars or something."

"Bye" He shut the door of his room

"Bye" She shut the door of her room

"Why did I end up back here?" Mika complained. The whole family plus Leo were in a 7-seater rented car and Mika was in the back. She was between Leo and Allo, Mr. Kennedy was driving with Mrs. Kennedy on his side and Layla was in the middle, Nico next to her. She was about to hit Allo on the head, when Mr. Kennedy announced that they were there.

Finally, half an hour sitting in between 2 annoying boys was not her idea of fun. But since it was Leo it hadn't been that bad, he was warm… "Um, Mika we have to get out!" said Allo waving his hand in front of her face "What are you thinking about?" "Nothing" she replied quickly. She got out after Allo and Leo followed, they were the last ones out.

Mika stretched and smoothed down her long black top with sequins on it, which she'd worn on top of her blue leggings. Mr. Kennedy led them to the place, he wore jeans and a shirt, same as Nico and Allo. Leo had three-fourths and a shirt. She sighed, boys don't where much different clothes, do they? Layla wore a red skirt and Mrs. Kennedy wore a gray-blue dress.

A man opened the door for them and Mika instantly liked the place, it was candle-lit as well as some soft lights on the ceiling and the whole place felt overall cosy. They were led to a table, Mika sat between Layla and Leo at one end, Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy opposite them, Nico and Allo on the left and right. They were immediately brought the menu cards and glasses of water.

Leo took a sip and started flipping through the menu card, when Mika asked him "Do you know anything good that's vegetarian?"

"You're vegetarian?"

"Yes, like mom and Layla"

"That's cool, like Piper"

"Who's Piper?" asked Nico.

"She's a friend from Mars" Leo answered, smiling.

"Really?" Nico eyes went wide.

"No," Leo said.

"She's actually Leo's best friend's girlfriend," Mika informed him.

"Ooh, is she pretty?" asked Layla.

"I guess, but that's in her blood," he replied.

"What?" Allo looked clueless.

"Her dad's a celebrity and her mom's Aphro- I mean her mom's famous for her looks," Leo caught himself in time.

"May I take your order?" the waiter interrupted.

"Yes, for starters we'll have 2 tomato soups," Mr. Kennedy ordered for him and his wife.

"I'll have the bruschetta," said Mika.

"Me too," added Layla.

"I'll take the fettuccine rolls," said Allo.

"One parmesan salad!" ordered Nico.

Everyone looked at Leo, who was fiddling with some wires from his tool-belt, Mika nudged him.

"Leo!"

"What?" he looked up.

"What do you want for starters?" asked Mrs. Kennedy kindly.

"Uhhhh…" Everyone laughed, even the waiter smiled and Leo decided on the tomato and mozzarella salad.

The waiter rechecked and then went to place their orders. The family talked until the food arrived and started eating, several "yummy" s were uttered and the food was gulped down (well of course not by the parents).

"So Leo, where are you from?" asked Mr. Kennedy.

"Well I'm from America, but my mom speaks Spanish, she died when I was small and my dad had left us after I was born" he said sadly.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" apologized Mrs. Kennedy, poor boy!

"Don't worry about it, Mrs. Kennedy, I going to find the cause and get my revenge, Leo-style! Bake her to the crisp!" he declared.

Everybody laughed again and Mrs. Kennedy said, "I'm glad! By the way call me Cinda, everyone does!" such a nice boy, she thought.

"Ok, thank you!"

"Your welcome, and what about you kids share a large margarita pizza for main and we choose something for ourselves?" asked Mrs. Kennedy.

"Ok!" the kids said together except for Allo who just grumbled.

The food was ordered and brought to the table, Mika took a slice and

began to eat. She looked at the candle and wished it would be brighter, then a totally unexpected thing happened. The flame rose higher and glowed brighter! Either Leo read her mind and made the flame do that or she could control fire too or it was just by chance.


	4. Friends

Friends

She looked around, nobody had seen the candle so she continued eating and she would experiment later. After she'd eaten 2 slices she was full and she rested her hands on the sofa that she was sitting on. She looked up at Leo, he was talking with Allo. Leo was cute. The reason she'd wanted to meet him since she read the book, was because she'd started to like him, a lot.

He finished talking with Allo and turned to her.

"Your parents are really nice"

"I know, but I'm always thinking of who my real parents are"

"Don't worry about that, enjoy the time you have now, for all we know maybe you real parent are really powerful and once you realize if you're a demigod the monsters

will come and turn you to monster chow," teasing her.

"Did monsters ever attack you?"

"No, I only found out that I was demigod after Dylan attacked us"

"I heard you were knocked out most of the whole time!"

"Well, yes, but I saved Jason and Piper's lives later" he said, defending himself.

"Yep, brave Jason and beautiful Piper with their sidekick flaming Valdez" she teased.

He laughed "You probably know everything about me, right? Well even I don't remember when I'm all on fire"

"Yes, you were!"

"Wow, I'm awesome!"

"Don't get ahead of yourself there, you just might set this place on fire if you get too exited"

"True, well I'm still awesome"

"This is probably really random, but did anything happen between Piper and Jason?"

"They're together now"

"What about Reyna?"

"We don't know, we haven't meet her yet"

"Gods, I want to be there when the 3 meet"

"An interesting show" he agreed.

"Lucky Piper…"

"Is someone jealous?"

"No, no, she's lucky that someone that likes her so much. I've never had a boyfriend"

"Yeah, right."

"It's true! Plus I like…" she looked in his eyes "…someone else."

"And who's that?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"Because I'm the awesome, cool and super nice Leo Valdez"

"Yep, totally"

"What?"

She laughed, Leo liked her laugh, it was cute. "And I'm the amazing, charming and genius, Mika Kennedy"

"Go to Planet Perfection, princess"

"I'm not a princess!"

"Ok, then you're the Queen of Nowhereland"

"Leo!"

"All right, so how was the pizza?"

"It was nice."

"I haven't had proper food in a while"

"What happened?"

"I ran away."

"From Camp!" it was hard for her to keep her voice down.

"Yeah, well those people are driving me crazy, Leo the Magic Mechanic, Leo the Flame Thrower, Leo the one too much…" fingering one of the pale orange napkins

"I guess you're enjoying the popularity," she said grinning

"Yes, totally! Jason and Piper are enjoying their love life" he looked annoyed

"Did Jason leave you or something?"

"No, he just doesn't really have pay any attention to any more. It's like I'm invisible or something"

"Is someone jealous?" she got back at the time he'd asked her.

"Not really, lets just say I need sometime away from weapons and monsters that are trying to kill me" he smiled.

"Ok"

"Ok"

They were quite for a while, listening to everyone's conversations, Layla and Allo were arguing again and Nico was watching it like a tennis match with his big blue eyes wide, occasionally putting a comment in here and there. Like "I don't think so" or "uhuh" or "No way!" Cinda and Cleon where arguing about the kids' school, then Mika turned back to Leo.

"Could you show me?"

"What?" he looked confused

"Fire" she whispered

"I'm not sure, it's dangerous…"

"Please!" she pleaded

"All right," he couldn't say no to those eyes.

He moved his fingers in the direction of the candle nearest to them and made the

flame dance. Right, left, up, down, brighter, duller. Mika's eyes were sparkling, she was watching the flame with amazement, those eyes were so pretty, Leo thought. He let the flame go and looked down at Mika, she came up to his shoulder.

"That was amazing!" she said with awe.

He put his hand on hers and said, "Does that mean I'm amazing?"

"Maybe," looking down at their hands, blushing and smiling up at him. His fingers were soft.

"I'll take that as a yes," he whispered, turning to the waiter, who had arrived for orders of dessert. Everyone decided on ice cream with chocolate sprinkles for the kids and a slice of cake for the parents. Mr. Kennedy started talking with Leo about mechanics and Layla had finally agreed to give the hat back to Allo (he still hasn't said sorry), so Nico engaged him with a conversation on basketball.

Mika showed her locket to Layla and she tried to open it, but it was somehow stuck, so they gave up and Layla went chattering on about some popular girl in her grade. Apparently she fell face forward in her cousin's birthday cake while trying to impress a pair of adults with her pose and walk! We had a good laugh about that, somehow the most embarrassing things happen in Layla's grade ('well never to me' she said).

Mika's grade had it's own type of drama, fashion. The most horrifying thing on Earth, according to Allo. Mika enjoyed dressing up for special occasions, but for school and other casual things she didn't bother dressing up. She just found a t-shirt with jeans or matching leggings. At school her popularity status was pretty good, but recently one of her best friends had asked the other one out, so they spent most of her time together and didn't really take that much notice of Mika.

They played Mash on a napkin with a pen until the ice cream arrived. The whole time Leo's hand was on her's, her face was still a little pink and a little wave of warmth that had passed her body, was still tingling a little bit, but she was happy! They ate their ice cream (Leo ate left-handed), payed the bill and got up to leave. Leo had to take his hand off, but Mika didn't mind, they walked towards the car in the moonlight. Mika looked up and saw the twinkling stars, they were so stunning, she'd always loved the night sky, it gave her an enchanting feeling.

Leo saw Mika looking up at the sky and smiling to herself, he himself had slept under the stars sometimes, he'd enjoyed it, and the stars and moon were like floating Christmas lights. They got in the car, Mika was stuck in the back with Leo and Allo again but she didn't complain.

He was quiet for most of ride, except for occasional questions from Cinda and Cleon about the dinner, hotel etc. Mika herself looked like she was going to fall asleep, it was about ten and she'd woken up early that morning. He moved away from the window, his head kept on banging on it (it was a bumpy), closer to Mika and asked her if she was ok. She just nodded and yawned, which made him yawn he realized he was tired too.

When they reached the Coronis they said 'good night's and 'thank you's. Leo changed and went straight to bed, he fell asleep soon enough dreaming of candles and brown eyes.

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Mahi **


	5. Beach

Beach

Over the next few days Mika and Leo occasionally met, Mika told him about Percy's quests and the final battle. They discussed weapons and tried to open the locket, but even Leo couldn't open it. There was probably some magic to it, it would open some day or another. They debated about the gods and monsters: Mika thought the monsters would be coming back faster than you could say "Death to Gaia". Leo reckoned they would come back like in Percy's quests. They also tried to figure out who Mika's parents were, but there weren't any clues and Mika's foster parents didn't know anything.

On one such day towards the end of the 2 weeks, they met at the beach just to have fun and watch the waves. They walked on wooden walkway that the people used to tie their boats to, it stuck over the sea, which looked beautiful at this time of day. They sat at the end their toes touching the water, it was the time in between midday and evening.

"I think I'll go to camp and meet everyone"

"Let's hope you're a demigod, then"

"Well I can see through the Mist"

"You could be like Rachel or Mrs. Jackson"

"Maybe, but what about the locket?"

"What about it?"

"I can feel a connection to it"

"Then you could be a demigod"

"This is so confusing"

"Let's drop it for now"

"All right, but when you go back to Camp will you ask Chiron if he knows anything?"

"Sure, but that could be a while"

"Leo, you need to go back, they will be worrying"

"I left a note, they can read" running his fingers on the wooden planks.

"But they don't know where you are, who you're with or even if you're alive or not!"

"I'll go back, when you leave for Germany" he said, compromising.

"You need to, you're one of the seven!"

"All right, but for all we know you could be too!"

"But I can't leave my family and we need to drop that now or else my brain will deep-fry itself!"

"Fine" he smiled.

"Thanks"

"Welcome, but you seem like someone doused you with water whenever I mention Germany" he smirked

"It's nothing just a stupid friendship thing"

"What did she do?"

"_They_ didn't do anything, I just think they're keeping something from me"

"Ok" sensing that Mika didn't want to talk about it.

"So what's up with you? You're not you're usual self."

"My funny, crazy and annoying self?"

"That's it"

"It's temporarily on holiday!" he said grinning.

Smiling, she nodded and looked out at the sea.

"You really like the sea don't you?"

"It feels calm and cool to me, I feel like everything is all right and nothing can go wrong"

"You wanna go for a swim?"

"Sure I'll go and get my swim suit"

"What about right now?"

"In our clothes?"

"Yep"

"Are you crazy, Valdez?"

"I hope not. Go home, Clam Head!" he pushed her in, laughing like mad.

Spluttering and wiping the water away from her face, she glared at him "You are so dead, Mister" she said loudly.

She pulled him in and when he surfaced, she splashed water all over him, until he surrendered and said sorry. They looked at each other's faces and for no reason at all they burst out laughing.

"You should have seen your face!" Leo commented between laughs

"Your's wasn't exactly glamorous either" she pouted.

"Well now that we're in we might as well swim a little" he waved his

hands in the water, creating ripples. The water was up to Mika's shoulders.

"All right, but look at this" she showed him the locket, which felt cool but was completely dry.

"Sweet, a water-proof locket" he touched it.

"This cannot be normal" she complained

"It is at Camp"

Suddenly her eyes lit up "I just had a genius idea!"

"Yes…"

"I could go to Camp with you and if I can cross the magical borders then I'll know if I'm a half-blood!"

"That would be easy if we had the Fleece"

"What?"

"It kind of isn't there anymore"

"What!" she practically shouted

"We're guessing someone stole it as a prank"

"This cannot be happening"

Then before anything Leo could reply, the air started shimmering and a female voice said, "Message approaching". The figure of a blond-haired girl flickered into focus. She was standing in front of a fighting arena on the short grass.

**Hi! Thanks for reading and reviewing! Especially to 'White Hat Daughter of Hermes" "Daughter of Nyx" "Musicality101" and "****ElleJTriX" Keep reviewing and tell me what you like and don't!**

**~Mahi the Percy Jackson and Narnia fan**


	6. Message

Message

"Annabeth?" Mika asked hesitantly.

"Yes? Who are you and why are you all wet?" she asked, getting straight to the point as always.

"I'm Mika Kennedy and I'm all wet because Genius Valdez here had the glorious idea of pushing me in the sea!" she answered sarcastically.

"Leo's there?"

"Yes, he's over there", she pointed to her left. Annabeth peered over and before she could say anything a curly-haired satyr stepped in and asked, "Annabeth, what a-" then he looked at the Iris-message, "Oh, that's what you're doing"

"Grover?" Mika didn't look to surprised to see a half-goat, half-boy. Annabeth wondered who she really was.

"Yes, who are you?"

"I'm Mika Kennedy"

"Have I met you before?"

"No I only know you through a book"

"Someone wrote about me?"

"Rick Riordan"

"Who's that?"

"He's senior scribe at Camp, now can we get back to why Leo swimming with his clothes on?" Annabeth interrupted

"Annabeth, you got my note?" Leo asked.

"Yes, actually Jason did and he told Piper and they're both freaking out!"

"What?"

"Well, you can't expect them to be over the moon that you ran away and they don't know where you are or even if you're alive!"

"Mika said the same thing, is that supposed to be some girl thing?"

"No!" Annabeth and Mika both glared at him.

"Scary" he muttered.

"Leo! Piper and Jason are getting ready to leave to look for you!"

"Really!"

"Yes, so you better get your butt all the way here!" Grover remarked, pointing to the ground.

"Ok, ok I'm coming but I'm bringing her with me", he pointed to Mika, "I ain't gonna to leave her to the monsters, she won't look good as monster food"

"Hey!" Mika protested.

"We can send a satyr, she can't disappear without any explanation and we don't even know if she's a demigod!" Annabeth reasoned.

"Does she have just one parent?" Percy asked.

"No" Leo answered.

"There's our answer, she's mortal!"

"Well maybe she's got a step-dad or mom"

"No, she doesn't"

"I'm right here you now!" Mika complained.

"I know", Grover and Leo said together.

She stuck her tongue out at Leo and said, "Annabeth, why don't you just get Chiron to write a letter to my parents that I've been invited to some summer camp or something?"

"But are you a demigod?"

"I don't know! I'm adopted."

"Well let's not take chances, I'll ask him", Annabeth said.

"All right."

He nodded and Annabeth exclaimed, "The connection is faltering, we gotta go. Leo, you need to come here now! And Mika, make sure he doesn't mess up"

Leo was about to say something to Annabeth, but she ran her hand through the message and made it disappear.

Grover asked Annabeth, "You think she's a demigod?"

They were walking to the Big House, "Yes, I do"

"Why?"

"I just know, she's got that kind of spirit"

"Spirit?"

"Forget it, goat's don't understand" she was still mad at him for disappearing for a

long time.

"I'm only half-goat" Grover looked insulted.

"Well, then you half understand"

They were quiet for a while and saw Piper approaching. She caught her breath and asked, "Where were you guys? I was looking for you"

"We were with Leo and Mika"

"What? He's here! And who's Mika?"

"Slow down, girl!" Grover exclaimed.

She glowered at him and turned to Annabeth. "No, Leo's not here, we Iris-messaged him and Mika is a girl who might be a demigod, who was with him"

"With him? Does he have a new crush already? I won't let that happen!"

"I don't think that's the case, they're probably just friends. And anyway why were you looking for us?"

"I have a message from Chiron"

"We were actually just going to meet him" 

"I don't think you can see him now"

"Why?" demanded Annabeth, she could see Chiron whenever she wanted!

"He's not here"

"What!"

"He went on an emergency meeting somewhere and while he's away he's putting you in charge"

"Me?"

"Well you think he would put Travis in charge?"

"Not a good idea" agreed Annabeth

"That's my point. Plus he's to busy trying to get Katie to notice him."

"Oh, really? Does Katie know that?" she asked.

"I'll make sure of that" Piper sneered (Don't worry she isn't turning evil she just has something against Katie).

"But now how will Mika get to Camp?" Annabeth asked.

"She'll just have to wait, we'll write the letter ourselves and fake Chiron's signature"

"Ok, we'll send someone to get her afterwards"

"Grover Underwood! GET HERE NOW!" came an extremely loud voice from the direction of the cabins.

"Well, goodbye" Grover said as he ran up to the cabins, "I think Clarisse just found out that Mentos don't mix with Coke"

"Grover! Why'd you do that?"

"I didn't, Jason did" he shouted over his shoulder.

"Jason?" Piper looked aghast.

"I think so"

"Boys!" they sighed.

"I heard that! And technically I'm not a boy, I'm a satyr…"

"Oh, shut up!" came Annabeth's voice.

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Mahi **


	7. Surprise

Surprise

"I cannot believe my chance is blown!" Mika was pacing up down at the corner of the lobby. She kept on sitting down on the sofa where Leo was sitting and getting back up while she said something loudly. Some people were staring and he could see a group of girls pointing at them and giggling. Leo was trying not to laugh and trying to calm her down at the same time, which wasn't a good combination. "It's not blown! Someone's gonna come get you"

"If I'm there for someone to get me!"

"You will be!"

"Since when are you optimistic?" she was annoyed.

"Since you blew your top off!"

She sat down on the sofa and asked him "Can you ask them to hurry when you get there?"

"I will, but someone will need your address to get to you"

She agreed and shuffled in her bag, she got her notebook and a pen out. She wrote down the address and gave the ripped out page to him.

"Do you have any sort of weapon that you can use, just in case?"

"Yes" she pulled a letter-opener out of her bag. The point was shaped kind of like a knife. On the hilt there was a lion's head with a fish

tail coming out of it and a design under it, carved on the bronze.

He choked back a laugh, "Are you planning to slice up monsters with a note-opener?"

"It's not what it looks, it was in my cradle when I was brought to my foster parents. I don't think it's an ordinary letter-opener"

"Ok, b-" he was cut off by Nico's voice coming from the glass doors. Mika and her family were leaving today and they would be spending the rest of summer at home, in Germany.

"Mika we're leaving now, say goodbye to your boyfriend!" Nico appeared by the sofa.

Leo reddened and stood up, "Hey little kid, I'm not your sister's boyfriend!"

"Then why do you spend so much time with her?" Allo came up behind Nico.

"Because we have important things to talk about", Mika was standing too.

"I wasn't aware that you had a job already" he said sarcastically.

"Shut up Allo and please wear your shirt the right way round!" Layla was there too. Allo had his shirt inside out, he scowled at Layla and ran off to the bathroom to change it.

"Mika, you need to get your suitcase, the taxi is there", Layla ordered her.

"Ok, sis!" then Mika turned to Leo, "See you then, _adiós_"

He smiled and shook her hand, "_Adiós_, Clam Head"

"Hey!"

He fake-cackled and pushed her towards her sister, "I'll make sure it comes soon"

He watched as she picked up her bag, ran towards the glass doors and got in the taxi. 10 minutes later, they were gone and Leo was on his way to Camp.

Mika was walking towards Lucy's house, thinking she might spend the night there, they were neighbours so she could just show up at her house and be able to stay there without a problem. Lucy's dad didn't mind and Mika's parents were close friends with him, so she could stay there without telling them and they wouldn't mind. Mika didn't like to boast about it but her family was very wealthy and she got a lot of freedom, but not too much. Sometimes she thought back at the time when she was young.

She didn't worry about anything, didn't know that money was hard to earn and didn't how hard it was to control her feelings. When she was small she could run around all day and fall asleep whenever she got tired. Whenever she couldn't do something, someone else would do it for her. Those days were peaceful, these days you spend half the night thinking about some problem or another and feeling dark feelings whenever something didn't work out. She sighed and adjusted her sleepover pack, she'd packed a change of clothes, a book and a toothbrush, she didn't need much for when she went to Lucy's, they'd always find something to do. But her mini-side bag went with her wherever she went, she usually had some money, her iPod, the book with the notes in it and her letter-opener.

Suddenly she bumped into someone and nearly fell backwards, but caught her balance and was about to scold the person, when she recognized the sandy brown curls and light brown eyes. It was Skandar, best friends with her and Lucy, some people would tease him that he was best-friends with _girls_, but she and Lucy weren't girly like other girls. "Mika you have to come see this!" Skandar was clearly excited.

"Where? What?"

"I'll show you, follow me!"

"But I hav-" she stopped when Skandar grabbed her arm and started running at top speed.

"S-s-s-k-a-a-n-n-d-a-a-r!" she yelled while running.

**Hey People! I just wanted to say thankyou for all reviewers! And that my updating will probably be getting slower now because my school has started and the teacher are already piling us with homework! Thank you if you have been reading! You guys don't have to review but it would make me happy if you did!**

**~Mahi **


	8. Shadow

Shadow

He didn't reply or stop until they reached their destination. It was evening and the sun was already setting, but she knew the place. A skate park. Typical. She'd run all this way to see a skate park. Not that she had anything against skateboards, but really?

"Isn't it the most awesome park you've seen?" Skandar asked.

"Considering that you dragged me all the way here to see this, it better be worth it!"

"It is! Look there are like 10 ramps and a whole area for freestyle!"

"You do know that I don't skateboard, right?"

"But you tried didn't you?"

"That would be called an epic fail!"

"You weren't really that bad…"

"I fell off 3 times!"

"At least you're not as bad as Lisa" a grin appeared on is face as he remembered the most nerdy girl in their grade, she wasn't really smart, she was just weird. Plain weird.

"Yeah, well nobody's as bad as Lisa"

"You remember when we told her about pencil-sharpeners causing cancer?"

"Oh yeah! She came back the next day at lunch with her sharpener in 3 pieces!"

"They looked like she'd had an major temper tantrum at them and then chucked them in a fire-extinguisher!"

"We held our laughs so long that Lucy had a coughing fit!"

"We ended up laughing so hard that practically half of the cafeteria was

staring at us!"

"We had to ditch our lunches and run to the playground for our reputations!"

"What about when you threw your piece over the fence and we heard a pooch yelp?"

"I swear my cheeks were sore for about 3 hours that day!"

They started laughing for the old times and only stopped when Mika spotted something in the shadows. She nudged Skandar and pointed at that direction. It was dark now. A boy about their age stepped out from under a tree, he had black hair and glinting dark eyes. There was a creepy aura to him.

"Nico?"

"Is that your brother? I didn't know he'd dyed his hair and grown that much!" asked Skandar.

"I am Nico Di Angelo, son of Hades"

"Who's Hades?"

"Shut up for a sec Skandar!" Mika stepped forward, "I'm Mika Kennedy and this is Skandar Grey"

"Nice to see you, I think you know why I am here"

"Yes I do, but does Skandar have anything to do with this?"

Nico nodded and said, "I am guessing he is one too"

"Wait a minute, I am what?"

"Someone special, I will explain when we get there"

"Get where? I am not going anywhere!"

"This is for your safety"

"But I haven't done anything wrong, I'm just a boy!" he was clearly confused now.

"You haven't done anything wrong, you where just born" Nico snorted.

Skandar was about to retort, when something leaped out of the shadows. His hand immediately went to his sword, he'd traded his dagger for a Stygian sword, being of more use these days. Skandar leaped behind one of the ramps and started running, Mika was about to yell at him to come back but what she saw paralysed her. 2 empousai, one younger than the other, started circling Nico. Apparently they didn't think Mika as much of a threat, Nico had his sword drawn and was pointing it at each of them, turn by turn. They laughed at him and the older one said, "You cannot take both of us, what can you do?"

"He will run away, demigods are cowards", sneered the younger one.

"No, he will pretend to do as his brethren say. He will die fighting like a hero", jeered the older monster.

"He will die fighting, but not as a hero" taunted the younger and they laughed their raspy laughs, showing their fangs.

"I guess I will go 2 on 1" Nico answered, "I have fought worse monsters than _empousai_" he said empousai like it was a disease.

"How dar-" the younger began, but Mika interrupted, "It will be 2 on 2"

she reaching into her side bag and pulled out her bronze paper-cutter, which gleamed in the moonlight. Her swept back, ebony hair was slightly shining and her eyes where gleaming, even though inside she didn't know what she was doing.

"Fool! Do not get in our way, we only drink male blood!" the older one was inching closer to Nico.

"What if I say 'I won't let you'?"

"Then you must fall, Kelli, get her!"

The younger beast leaped for Mika, who somehow dodged and held her weapon in front of her. The empousai laughed at the weapon and pounced again, Mika was slowly backing towards Nico, who was battling with the older one. She tried to dodge this one too, but the monster foresaw the move and succeeded in knocking her down, meanwhile ripping at her skin with her claws. A trickle of blood started to dribble down her thigh.

Great, in the first few seconds she was already wounded, how much time till she died? Having no other choice, as the monster lunged at the girl again, she thrust her weapon up and got up at the same time. Kelli dodged and tried to attack with her claws, Mika parried with her knife, succeeding in cutting a few of her claws off. "My nails!" she said, withdrawing, like a pure cheerleader and making an angry face at Mika.

But Mika took advantage of the distraction and threw her knife like an arrow, surprisingly it reaching its mark and the empousai exploded into golden dust, "You call those nails?" Then the pain from her ripped skin sore through her thigh and she slowly sunk to the ground, she was now nearly back-to-back with Nico, who had already gotten rid of the other monster, he felt her sinking to the ground. He turned to face her and helped her up, she leaned on him slightly, but managed to stay up. "I'm fine its nothing"

"First real injury?"

She nodded and as if on cue, Skandar came running in shouting a war cry and a hammer raised above his head! "Yaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Then he stopped and looked around the park, "Where'd those goat robot vampires go?" Mika started giggling and then laughing, Nico was also smiling and Skandar just looked from one to the other, confused.

"We should go now," Nico said as he pulled a dog whistle out of his pocket and blew it. Out of the shadows came a huge black dog, which barreled up to Nico and started licking his face, he was laughing as he pushed her off and ordered her to sit. Skandar was staring it, then looking at Mika like she'd grown wings (who by the way was still laughing) then looked at Nico.

"Did you lose your voice or something?" Mika asked.

"No but this just can't get any weirder, the next thing aliens from Mars will come flying down in hot-pink helicopters!"

"Well, not that weird. We have origins." Nico said as he petted the dog.

"Origins?"

"We're Greek, but somebody will probably explain that later"

"Yes I will, but for now, meet Mrs. O'Leary, the one and only nice hellhound in the world", introduced Mika.

"Well like those big hounds in Greek myths? That's not possible, they're only myths"

"Then how do you explain those monsters and this dog?" asked Nico.

"Umm…"

"Nico. We have to leave before we meet any more monsters, I don't think I could handle it" Mika's vision was going blurry.

"Oh, right. Wait a sec, I think I have some ambrosia here", Nico rummaged in his pockets. He produced a slightly squashed half of a square. He gave it to Mika, who popped it in her mouth.

"Lemon squares?" Skandar stepped forward.

"No, it's ambrosia, along with nectar it is the food of the gods"

"Oh…"

"I feel much better but we still have to go and how do we get there?"

"Well, we could get a taxi to the airport…"

"Well in the first place we don't have enough money for a taxi, where do we get the money for the flight?"

"Well we could ask our parents"

"Yeah go up to our parent in the middle of the night and ask 'Hi Mom and Dad, can I have some money to book a flight. I need to fly to an Ancient Greek Camp to train to fight monsters'"

Skandar had to admit it, it sounded pretty stupid.

"How about we just stay here!"

"Unless you want to be a monster's dinner, that's not an option"

"I like being alive, but now what?"

Nico was watching this, looking amused and he finally spoke up, "How about we shadow travel?"

**Hope you liked it! Sorry for the delay! Please, please, please review! I need them to improve my writing! Thanks to all readers and reviewers!**

**~Mahi **


	9. Camp

Camp

"What's that?" Skandar asked, he didn't seem to be running low on questions.

"It's a way of travel, but not all people like it and it drains the person's energy"

"Sounds fun" he said sarcastically.

"One of you will go with Mrs. O'Leary and the other will go with me"

"I'll take the dog!" Skandar loved animals and had taken a liking for the dog, plus the boy was kind of freaking him out. Mika didn't seem that uncomfortable though,

"All right, then I guess I'll be going with Death Boy"

"Don't call me that!"

"Sorry, what should I call you? Skeleton Guy?"

"Just Nico will be fine!"

"Ok, Skeleton Guy" she grinned at him.

"Hades, you're just like Percy!"

"Really?"

"Never mind, Skandar get on Mrs. O'Leary and I hope you're not afraid of the dark"

"No, I'm not, I'm not scared of anything!" he said confidently. At this point, Mika's

grin faded and a little fear appeared in her dark eyes. Nico decided to wait a little and helped Skandar up. He whispered something in the dog's ear and set her off into the shadows.

Then he turned to Mika, "You're scared of the dark, aren't you?"

"No not really… I just don't like it"

"That's practically the same"

"Whatever, can we go now?"

"Yes", he held on to Mika's arm and walked into the shadows, in the dark he didn't notice Mika's face slightly pinking. She had a liking for Leo, but before him it had been Nico. She smiled when she had thought they were only books. She had always wished for this world to be real, but now she wasn't feeling the greatest. She hadn't been expecting to get wounded so soon and wasn't expecting Skandar to be part of this. He was like a brother to her, even though she had plenty of those. 2 brothers from her adopted family and 4 cousins from her foster mom's side. Altogether, including Skandar, it was 7 almost related boys.

That was probably why she had never really been a girly girl she had never really bothered with clothes or makeup or gossip. She would just read a book, or play outside or hang with her friends. Sometimes she would end up singing to herself.

Nico jolted her back into reality by asking her, "Are you ready?"

"Uh… What? Yeah, I'm ready" she took a deep breath and looked up at the starry sky.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it. It was a shock for me at first, too. But I was partly just interested in my cards" he gave a sheepish grin.

She giggled and told him, "Thanks"

"No problem" Then he took hold of her hand and plunged into the darkness, the only thing that was keeping her from shrinking back, was that Nico was holding her hand, She closed her eyes and didn't open them till she felt Nico let go, she opened and saw that was standing at the bottom of a hill. Half-Blood Hill! She was finally there! She place she had dreamt of being since she read the first book! Mika was so happy that she forgot all about the dark. Skandar was beside them, bending over a snoring hellhound.

"I don't know what happened, the moment we came here she fainted and started snoring! She nearly squashed me too!"

"Oops, I think I forgot to warn you about that. It takes a lot of energy to shadow travel and it's only her 2nd time"

"Then why aren't you snoring off too?"

"I've shadow travelled a lot" was his only reply. Mika began to walk up the hill, saying that they should be getting there as soon as possible. Both boys followed.

Jason was keeping lookout when he stopped 3 kids, 2 boys and one girl coming up the hill. The girl was slightly limping and one of the boys was carrying a hammer. He recognized the other boy, Nico! That guy creeped him out and it didn't help that he could make zombies appear with a flick of his hand. Like the king of zombies or something. He watched as they approached the top, the girl, after seeing him, began to run up.

As she reached the top, she looked at him and said, "You're Jason?"

"Yes" Jason was wary, how did she know that?

She looked satisfied and waited for the boys to catch up, a few seconds later they were standing next to him too and the girl was introducing the other boy to him.

"This is Skandar Gray, Skandar this is Jason"

"Hi"

"Hi"

"Not meaning to be rude, but I don't know your name" Jason said to Mika.

"I'm Mika Kennedy"

"OK"

Jason led them to The Big House, when a group of campers came and started asking questions, "Who are you?" "What are you doing here?" "Are you the new person Rachel was talking about?" "How did you get here?" "What is it like in Germany?"

"Children, children! Do not overwhelm the newcomers!" a deep voice came from the edge of the crowd. The crowd parted, to reveal a half-man, half-horse. Skandar's jaw dropped open, but Mika only made a little bow and introduced them. The she stepped back and pushed Skandar's jaw back in place. Chiron smiled and started explaining everything to Skandar. Greek gods met up with humans, made babies that were called demigods and right now an evil Mother Earth was waking up and ready to destroy the gods and all humankind. Great. Just the news he wanted. Skandar wasn't ready to accept it, but it explained the monsters and huge dog!

"You may go and rest now in the Hermes cabin while I talk to your friend, here"

Skandar glanced back and then was led to cabin by Stoll brothers. Who immediately began asking him if he had any shaving cream. "Do I look like I need to shave?" he'd asked them. That started off a huge thing about shaving cream being essentially important for the Hermes cabin and that it wasn't for shaving.

Chiron walked alongside Mika to The Big House. They talked about the situation and about the Camp and who might be her godly parent. She told him that she was adopted, about the locket (also showing it to him, she still had it on) and how they got here. Leaving out the parts with Nico holding her hand and her school life, that wasn't important.

Mika was sitting on the porch of The Big House with a glass of juice, when Leo stepped in. Jason, Piper and Annabeth accompanied him. Piper looked at the girl, she had chestnut wavy-curly hair, -coloured eyes and was very pretty. Next to her was a blue backpack, slung over her shoulder was a khaki mini-shoulder bag and on her neck hung a beautiful locket. She stood up and introduced herself, she seemed to know all of their names. When Jason asked how she knew their names, she plainly said, "A book" The only 2 people that didn't look confused, were Leo and Annabeth.

"So do you know who your godly parent is?" asked Piper.

"No, I have no idea!"

"Well do you have a mom or a dad?"

"Both and none. I am adopted"

"Oh"

"But maybe this locket will help!" Mika showed the locket to all of them and told them the whole story. Annabeth's grey twinkling eyes looked like they were calculating a thousand things at the same time. Suddenly her hand flew to her mouth and with a worried expression she ran off, shouting something about finding Chiron.

"What's up with her?" Leo asked.

"That's what Annabeth does, she figures something out, she goes to Chiron and then tells anyone else if it's right." Mika answered.

"How do you know so much about everyone?" Piper asked suspiciously.

"I read", she answered simply. "Anyways I need to contact my parents and tell them everything will be ok and that I'm at a summer camp, but we're not aloud to use cell-phones, are we?"

"No we aren't but you could walk to the closest pay-phone and use it", Jason suggested.

"It's dangerous for her to go alone and she looks drained of energy." Piper said, flicked a piece of her chocolate brown hair behind her back. "We'll go! Jason and I. Leo can stay here and take care of her"

Surprisingly Leo didn't complain and led her to the Hermes cabin to rest for a while. All the way he was joking and smiling, Mika was tired but she couldn't help laughing along. She was finally in the place she'd always wanted to be. After seeking permission from Chiron, Piper and Jason headed out. Mika lay down to sleep and sneaked one last glance at Leo disappearing from the doorway.

She was lucky.

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Mahi **


	10. Claimed

Claimed

2 hours later she was heading for the dining pavilion with a group of campers, in a fresh camp T-shirt and the same jeans. As always she had her side bag with her, but nothing else. She was going to go ask Annabeth about the Fleece when she was barricaded with a hug by someone.

"Mika! It's you! You're the new demigod! I had no idea! Why didn't you tell me you were one?" a girl with short reddish-brown hair and green-brown eyes exclaimed. Mika nearly fainted for surprise, it was Lucy!

"I had no idea I was one! And you never told me either!" Mika exclaimed back.

They were making so much noise that Skandar, who was at the back of the crowd, heard and came up to them. His jaw fell open again and he stood there. Lucy ran up to him and gave him a hug too, "You too! This is too good to be true! Do you think we met by accident or did the gods do it on purpose?"

Skandar closed his mouth and said, "Hi Lucy"

She ruffled his light brown curls (which looked pretty funny since she was shorter than him) and started telling them her story. She was on vacation in New York with her dad when a hellhound attacked her, her dad fought the monster with a gardening rake and at last she made one of the trees nearby choke the monster into dust. Her dad drove her here and explained everything on the way here, she would go back to him after the summer ended. Mika guessed that she was a child of Demeter and when she asked, she was right. They reached the dining pavilion and Lucy flew (not literally) off to the Demeter table, Mika and Skandar found the Hermes table.

Mika showed him how to make offerings to the gods, showed him all the tables and told him about the different gods. His attention stayed for about 2 minutes after which he became more interested in the Stoll brothers weaving grass into Clovis' hair (the Hypnos table was right next to the Hermes one) on the other side (where Mika was sitting) was the Athena table. Annabeth was right behind her, so she tapped her shoulder and asked her about the Fleece.

"Well somehow Peleus found it, but he can't talk so we don't know from where"

"That's kind of mysterious"

"Yeah…By the way, did you see Jason or Piper? I haven't seen them since they went to call your parents."

"That's weird, I haven't either!"

"Maybe they're resting in their cabins"

"Maybe" Mika shrugged her shoulders and turned back to her food. At that very moment a flashback occurred to her.

"_No! I'll never go! Ever!" she screamed._

"_But we have to, for our family to have a better life" her foster mother answered._

"_No! You just want to go to save money!"_

"_I want to go stay with our family! And if you don't want to go then you can go to boarding school somewhere"_

"_But then I'll still be separated from my friends! And my family! Couldn't you wait one more year? I don't want to leave in the summer without telling anyone!"_

"_Mika, friends aren't permanent. Only your family stay with you" her foster father had joined in now._

"_My friends wouldn't abandon me even if I was sent to jail!"_

"_But you'll never know. Because you won't stay here long enough to find out and you won't ever go to jail"_

"_You can't decide that! My future is my decision, not yours" her own voice sounded alien to Mika._

"_Part of it is ours and so you _will _do what we ask you to"_

"_I won't!"_

"_You should be grateful that we took you in! That we didn't leave you in an orphanage or leave on the doorstep to die of cold and hunger." Her foster mother's expression turned cold as she said this._

"_You wouldn't have done that though. I'm not moving to India and that's it. I'm staying here no matter what you tell me." her voice was cold and calm._

_She stomped upstairs and just before she closed the door she heard, "Fine! Then you can stay here. Alone!" _

_She threw herself on the bed and began crying into her pillow. She skipped dinner and went to sleep, the only thoughts in her head were those of being unwanted and lonely. She dreamed of living alone on the dreary streets and a voice echoing continuously in the dark empty night. "You could have come. But you didn't. Now you must suffer. You could have come. But you didn't. Now you must suffer…"_

She was jolted back to reality by the sound of Chiron stomping his hoof. "Boys, girls and all magical creatures present, I have few announcements to make." The sounds of people rustling on the benches, to turn to Chiron echoed everywhere. The fire turned a bright shade of purple, curiosity.

The centaur continued, "Firstly, I would like to welcome our new arrivals, Mika Kennedy and Skandar Gray. They are yet to be claimed. Secondly, we have been informed by Tyson, that while he was out looking for Percy, he received a message and that the Roman camp is about to be invaded. We will rush to their help as soon as soon as our ship is finished, which brings me to our last point. A few Athena campers that are helping with the planning of the ship have informed me, they are convinced that the ship will not be complete without the magical wood from the Forest of Dodona, which could speak advice and tell prophecies. We will not be in need of the prophecies, Rachel here has already helped us with that. But I have been informed that when the piece is merged with a certain ingredient, it will contain the power that will allow our ship to fly."

"And which ingredient is that?" interrupted an Athena camper.

"A special flower from the manna (ash) trees of the Meliai. For those of you that do not know what the Meliai are: they are the daughters of Gaia and Ouranos' blood. They took care of Zeus along with Ida, Adrasteia and the milk-supplying goat, Amaltheia. They gave birth to the third race of humans, that were very warlike, suggesting that so were their mothers."

"Oh…" came a reply from everywhere in the place.

"We will continue this discussion on the Friday night, which means Capture-the-Flag will be canceled for then."

A series of complains rang, but Chiron shushed everyone and then dismissed the campers to the fireplace, for marshmallows and singing songs. Murmurs of excitement, curiosity and fear where everywhere. Mika walked over to where Leo, Annabeth and Skandar were standing and whispered, "Have any of you seen Piper or Jason? They went out in the morning and still aren't back!"

"Maybe something attacked them and they have to stay somewhere overnight" suggested Annabeth.

"Or maybe they got caught up… With each other…" teased Leo.

"I doubt it, they aren't that irresponsible, I asked Chiron about it and he said that we will leave it for now", Annabeth said.

"Ok" They plopped down on the half-rotten logs and Leo went to fetch some marshmallows on branches. When he offered Mika one, she refused saying that she was vegetarian and marshmallows had gelatin in them, which was basically pig bones. He shrugged, took the marshmallow of the stick and stuck it on his own, throwing the spare one into the dark starry night. Suddenly the whole group of campers were bathed in yellow light. A holographic image of a lyre had appeared over Skandar's head, he looked up and started trying to swat it down.

"Guess you just got claimed!" Will Solace, head of Apollo cabin came over and patted him on the shoulder. "Apollo is the god of music, healing and prophecies, he represents the sun. He is the twin brother of Lady Artemis, goddess of the hunt and representation of the moon."

"So which ones are her children?" he asked.

"She is a virgin, she does not marry or have children."

"Oh… Well so where are my peeps?" he kind of reminded Mika of a more sensible version of Leo. He was led to a group of Apollo campers that had chosen to sit next to each other. He fit right in and Mika was wondering when she would be claimed. She asked Annabeth if she had any idea. At that very moment the campers were once again bathed in light, this time it was blue. Annabeth and Leo looked up, Annabeth turned pale and Leo looked like his eyes would pop out. Slowly she turned up and saw above her head, a glowing trident. Poseidon.

She was a daughter of Poseidon. She couldn't believe it, a mixture of feelings engulfed her. Happiness, worry, relief, fear and excitement. Nico and Lucy got up and walked over, Lucy smiled at her as always and Nico put on an even darker expression than usual. Chiron also trotted over and simply said, "You must be careful."

"Well that explains why you like the sea so much and why you where always hyper near the water!" Lucy broke the awkward silence. Everyone laughed, at least they had someone in the Poseidon cabin now, whenever Chiron trotted off, but Lucy and Nico stayed. The whole group sang, laughed and joked like they had known each other for years. Then, at around 10:30, they decided to go to bed.

Leo led Mika to the Poseidon cabin and said that she could have the upper bunk , since neither Percy nor Tyson was here. She nodded and went to the adjoining bathroom to change, she still had the sleepover pack from when she was going to go to Lucy's house, so she took out the PJs and changed. She brushed her teeth and walked over to her bed. Leo was waiting in the doorway, she turned to his, seeing that he was lost in thought.

Walking over to him, she waved her hand in his face, "Getting lost?"

He jolted back to reality and smiled, "I never get lost! I'm doing some important thinking 'cause I'm the lord of the most stubborn ship on Earth and it's refusing to work" 

"You should ask Argus to help you, he helped with the first ship."

"Ok, but he's kinda scary. I mean he has like eyes everywhere, I heard he even has some on his tongue!"

"That's true"

"So, if he like eats something, he can see it while he chewing!"

"That's gross!"

"Well, rumors are rumors"

"Have you been hanging out with the Stolls?"

"It's kinda hard not to, they follow me everywhere! Begging me to tell them how I use fire. I don't know! I just think fire and BAM there it is!"

"Tell them to go ask Hephaestus"

"Good idea, if I want to have shaving cream in my bed for the rest of my life in camp!

"What's with them and shaving cream?"

"I dunno, maybe their mom sold them or something"

"Hmmm. So, are you better now?"

"Was I ever sick?"

"No, no. I mean with your mom and stuff" her voice gradually got quieter and she started fiddling with her t-shirt. Leo was taken back and then mentally face palmed himself. Of course! This girl knew everything about him. He didn't mind but think about it! Someone who knew everything! She could guess what he was thinking like some fortune-teller or something.

He became sad when he thought of his mom and said to her, "Yeah, yeah. All fine"

"

Don't lie to me" Mika's head rose up and looked him full on the eyes.

He sighed, "All right. I'm better! I don't feel extremely alone anymore, I actually have some real friends. But I still miss my mom. And-" it was his turn to put his head down, "And what if, what if my mom was one of the souls that escaped?"

Mika shivered and answered "Leo, your mom could have escaped, but remember that we are going to close the Doors of Death. So eventually your mom is going to return"

"I know, I know. But her death is my fault! I have to do something about it. She was going to sell her prototype and get a break. And then I go and… and burn her!"

"It isn't your fault. It's Gaia's and Hera's, but you still freed that goddess. She's caused so much trouble to demigods, it would be better if she stayed locked up somewhere. But I understand her plan and it has to work."

"No. It's my fault and Hephaestus'"

Mika took a step forward "Listen to me. I don't like forcing your opinion, but Gaia was messing with you your entire life. She was trying to break you, so that you would never be strong enough to fight her"

Leo looked at her and realized something. This girl understood, she understood what was happening. She understood how he felt and she understood why his life was like that. Gaia was going to pay. Big time. No Mother Earth is getting away from him. The next time he saw her, he was going to burn her like fried chicken. "I think I understand what you mean. Thanks"

She smiled, relieved, "I'm good at that. Understanding and making people understand. I just hope you and the Romans don't rip each other apart"

"So you're not planning on coming?"

"The prophecy says 7. You, Piper, Annabeth, Percy, Jason and 2 other Romans."

"Right, well that kinda sucks. A child of Poseidon not going to war."

"Thalia is a daughter of Zeus and she wasn't even mentioned in the First Prophecy"

"But, I have feeling, we're going to bring you along. Because Tyson is over there, I don't see why you can't come. Plus we're going to need as many people as possible to help the Roman camp" 

"That's true. If we ever get there! What's wrong with the ship?" 

"I'm not sure. I think the Athena campers are right, we're gonna need that piece of wood and mix it with whatever Chiron said" 

"Hmmm. Well we'll talk tomorrow."

"Yeah, g' night."

"Night" she watched him leave.

She climbed up the ladder and lowered myself into her bed. That felt good. Soft, comfy bed. At home her bed wasn't bad, it was just a little hard and the covers were a little cold in the winter. She felt her eyes shutting and drifted off.

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Mahi **


	11. Bull

Gone

She woke up to the sounds of metal clashing against metal. Loud bangs ringing through the otherwise quiet morning, the only other sound was people rushing out of the cabins to see what was up. Mika rushed to the bathroom, changed, brushed her teeth and hair, then rushed out herself. The bright sun was rising right behind the commotion, so only after blinking one or twice, could she see what was happening.

A huge figure with horns and blindingly shiny armor, or was it skin? It was battling 2 figures, 2 boys. As Mika inched closer, she recognized one of them as Leo and the other as Nico. She jumped as the huge figure suddenly let out a huge breath of burning hot flame, it would have fried Nico, if Leo hadn't pushed him out of the way. Angry and surprised that Leo wasn't lying in a pile of ash, it bellowed out and swung at him with it's huge fist. It met it's mark, he was knocked off his feet and thrown at least 3 meters. He fell to the ground and lay there, as the bull advanced on him, anger surged through Mika. Then she did what was probably the most stupid thing she'd ever done. She ran towards the monster.

She had to save him, she ran all the way to where they were, next to the lake. Nico had gotten up and was running towards the monster, but Mika got there first. On the way she picked up a weapon from the ground, which she recognized as Leo's hammer. She stepped in front of Leo, the bull would have to get past her first, she needed to see what she could do. She knew what the monster was, a Colchis bull, they had attacked the camp once before. She raised the sword and shouted up, "Hey Pepper Breath! You've got to get past me first!"

He bellowed again and raised his fist, Mika ran to the side, so that the bull would focus on her and not the limp figure of Leo. The bull turned and prepared to swing out with his fist. Silently, Mika cursed herself. What was she doing? She hardly knew how to handle her brothers, let alone a monster bull as big as a mutated elephant! Her thoughts were stopped when the bull brought down his fist and she jumped back. Beginner's luck, she thought. The bull took several steps forward and swung again. She ran to the side again, the bull slowly turned to face her, his back now to Leo and Percy on his left side. She banged at the skin with the hammer, only making a dent in the copper skin. This guy had tough skin. She didn't think he was ever introduced to lotion.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nico waving his hands in the air, pointing under the bull's legs, pointing at her and then running on the spot. She would have thought he was crazy if she hadn't noticed the same thing that he had. The bull was big, but he was slow. She turned her head to him and nodded, but she was not paying attention to the bull. The monster took advantage of this and blew a hot tongue of flame. She heard Lucy, Skandar, Leo, Nico and Annabeth all shriek, as she was enveloped in white-hot flames.

Time slowed down. The sun didn't seem so bright any more, the grass no longer green. Lucy started running towards her, she was held back by Annabeth and Skandar. They could not let her in danger, too. A heavy silence fell over the whole camp. After what seemed like hours, but was probably seconds, something happened. A scream cut through the silence like a scissor snapping a string, the fire coming from the monster's mouth was being pushed back. Faintly, Leo could see the figure of a girl standing up, through the fire. Extremely confused, the monster stopped it's flame and snorted. It was a miracle.

Mika had her hands in front of her, her knees bent like she had been getting up, her mouth open from the scream she had just let out and Leo's hammer dropped in the side. Gasps were heard everywhere, but cheers of relief as well. Lucy stopped trying to escape, Leo's jaw dropped open, Annabeth smiled widely, Skandar let out a loud whoop and closing his mouth Leo pounced for his hammer. Nico, meanwhile, had been smiling the whole time, he had not felt her soul leave her and enter the Underworld, but he had been worried that perhaps she had been severely burnt or hurt in some way, but managed to stay alive.

Now, Nico had his sword in his hand, where it glinted in the now bright again sunlight and was charging for the bull. Mika was running, too, but she was aiming for under the legs of the monster. She flitted through at the exact moment that Chiron trotted over and Nico slashed at the beast. This bull was going to pay. Moments of fight resumed and Nico seemed to be taking the losing side, when Leo and Annabeth joined in. Together they took it down easily. The group of campers that had gathered, erupted into cheers and whooping as the monster erupted into golden dust. It was scattered everywhere on the grass, Percy, Leo, Annabeth and Mika joined the others and were crowded around.

A million questions were asked to Mika. Could she control fire, too? Did the Gods make a mistake? Was she really a daughter of Hephaestus? How did she survive? Where did she learn to use her powers? Did she always have those powers? Mika was speechless, she had no idea how she had done what she had just done. She was still speechless, when Annabeth came over and hugged her, followed by Lucy. Then Nico and Skandar patted her back, voiced their relief and last came Leo.

He gave her a grateful smile, "Well, guess you just saved my butt! Thanks! I would have never been able to forgive myself if you died, saving me. But you lived, thanks for that, too!"

She laughed and while smiling, said, "Guess I don't owe you anymore, huh? Your welcome" He took her hand and briefly squeezed it, letting go when people started to notice. She blushed with happiness. The whole crowd around her was cheering and now turned their attention at the others, who had been fighting too. She turned back around expecting to see a pile of dust, but instead she saw the standing figure of a newly risen bull! It took a step forward.

"Nooo!" Mika screamed as her hands flew in the air, in the direction of the lake. A tugging motion appeared in her gut and a huge wall of water flew towards the bull, pushing it down, onto it's behind. Everyone had turned and had looks of surprise on their faces. Mika didn't know what else to do but control the water to make it form a huge solid arrow and impale itself in the monsters tough hide. It erupted in golden dust, but just as quickly, started to cling together again. Mika shouted at Leo, "Burn it! Burn the dust!" Leo looked at her like she had gone crazy, but did what she asked. Fire engulfed the dust and it was unable to form again. Once again cheers erupted everywhere. Mika would have bet someone that the people's voices should be sore by the end of the day. Leo gaped at her, she had just saved him 3 times in one day, and it was one of her first days at camp, too.

Chiron trotted up and put his hand on her shoulder, he had his ultimate, _something-really-epic-has-happened-so-we-must-discuss-important-matters-at-once _face on and steered her to the Big House while announcing that there was going to be a war council in 5 minutes in the Mess Hall. Leo, Percy, Annabeth, Rachel, Lucy, Skandar and all the other cabin leaders were to come. Mika was really confused for the first time since she came to Camp. What had she just done? Controlled fire? Controlled water? It was all blurry!

As she was lead through the wooden door of the house, she sat down on one of the sofas and Chiron sat into his wheelchair. Now Mika didn't have to bend her head up all the way, to look at his face. Why was he so tall? He laced his fingers together on his lap and gave her a grave look.

"The prophecy is true, then?"

Mika picked up a pillow and set it in her lap, she was confused now. "What prophecy? I'm not in the Great Prophecy!"

"You are correct, you're not. But a few days after Leo left Camp, Rachel said another prophecy, one that links to the Great Prophecy. It goes like this:

'_Fire will meet water, new's reason will overcome old's._

_A girl with knowledge and ability beyond your perspicacity._

_2 opposite elements will join in 3 roads, _

_And remember that history's tale can also happen currently. _

_Trust her to save your generation and prophecy.'"_

She sat there for a while, her dark brown waves covering some of her face as she bent her head down and suddenly became interested with the design on the pillow "And that's about me?"

"Well it makes sense, Leo is fire and he meet you, who is water. You know more about us than anyone else. And the 2 opposite elements are probably your water, and Leo's fire. I am not quite sure what the rest means. But right now, we must discuss about how you are a daughter of Poseidon and can shield yourself against fire. We might have said that you where a daughter of Hephaestus, but you have also controlled water. I have 2 guesses, either Hephaestus shielded you, although I have no idea why he would do that. Or, you locket isn't just a water-proof locket but something much more to do with the 'history is currently' I must remind Apollo to get a Thesaurus, his prophecies are getting worse by every year."

She laughed and hugged the pillow, "I think it has something to do with the locket, because the gem changed colour, it changed from blue to orange and back to blue"

"What! You didn't tell me?"

"I didn't get a chance to, but Chiron, what's happening to me?" 

"I don't know child. I don't know. But for know, let us proceed to the Mess Hall to meet the other campers"

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Mahi **


	12. Quest

Quest

They walked up to the mess hall in silence, immersed in their own thoughts. Mika was very worried, she didn't know what was happening and she was afraid. She was always afraid of something or other and it felt like her weakness. Fear. Usually it stayed deep inside her, but one in a while it would surface and Mika didn't like it. It was weird, she had a fear of fear. Shaking her head she stepped into the Mess Hall. Everyone had gathered around the Ping-Pong table and where playing, rock paper scissors? What! O.K, Mika thought, this camp is officially way too random. As she took her place between Nico and Leo, everyone stopped and turned to her.

Chiron took his place at the front and started talking, "I'm sure everyone is aware of our current situation and that Jason and Piper are not present"

"Yeah! Where'd they go?" Leo asked. 

"I don't know, I think they are simply forced to stay somewhere because of monsters. I recall Percy was missing for a week, we feared him dead, but he was just-" Chiron stopped, as Annabeth shot him a death glare, she was the only one who dared to do that. "-just held up." He improvised.

"Ummm, one question. Who's Percy? Everyone keeps talking about him, but I have no idea who he is" Skandar asked.

"He was kind of the leader of the camp. He saved it many times and defeated Kronos in the final battle. He was a son of Poseidon", explained Chiron.

"Child of Poseidon. Like Mika!" he pointed to her. She became uncomfortable as everyone watched her, curious about her.

She coughed and said, "Well don't expect to know anything about where I was born or anything. I'm adopted and my foster parents claim not to know anything."

"Claim? Maybe they more than you think." Annabeth interrupted.

"We could pay them a visit and I could cast a truth spell on them", Lou Ellen offered.

"It's O.K., but thanks for offering. We have bigger problems right now. Like finishing the ship and getting to the Roman Camp. I have a feeling they're gonna need us there", Mika was worried.

"You are correct. We will issue 2 quests, one to get the magical wood from Dodona and one to get the flowers from manna tree of the Meliai. I normally would not issue two quests but we don't have much time. You need to be back by the summer solstice so that we can go to the Roman Camp in time to help them." 

"And today's the 20th, so if they leave tomorrow that's 3 days" Mika calculated.

"Yes. I would like whoever goes to also keep a sharp lookout for Piper and Jason though." Chiron continued.

"So who's going to go?" questioned Miranda.

"Me!" Annabeth and Leo said at the same time.

"Well then, Annabeth you will lead one quest and Leo the other. Who will go with them?"

"I will!" Mika volunteered.

"Me too!" Lucy wanted to prove Demeter's worth. It was a long time since a child of Demeter went on a quest.

"All right. Mika you go with Leo and Lucy will go with Annabeth. 2 more?" Chiron

asked.

Everyone was hesitant and somebody asked, "What about Nico?"

"He left right after fighting the bull, he said he had to go meet someone" Lucy confirmed.

It was silent again until Skandar said, "I will, if I get a bow and arrow. I was always good at archery, I'll go with Mika"

"I'll go with Annabeth and Lucy." Grover announced.

In the corner, Rachel got up, her eyes glowing green and walked in between Leo and Annabeth. Mist poured out of her mouth and Mika looked up over at Skandar, her looked like he was about to faint.

"What happened to h-" He spoke no more as words poured out of Rachel's mouth:

"_As 2 groups venture to reach their goal,_

_One to the forest of Dodona in the new county_

_Proceed to the shrine guarded by many a black soul._

_Another to the 20__th__ region to the harmonious city_,

_Find the cave of weddings where the mothers of fighters, you shall control._

_And all advance to end the sons of the endless hole"_

Then she fell, only to be propped into a chair by a few campers. Skandar tried to stay calm, "Is that normal?"

"Yep!" echoes were cast.

"Well that's settled, you will prepare today and leave tomorrow morning. All other cabin leaders will inform their cabin that they are to be ready to travel. I doubt that only 7 demigods can defeat all giants by themselves. We will need some campers from each cabin to go to Greece by airplane." Chiron ordered.

"All right!"

"Then you are dismissed" Everyone dispersed and went off, chattering. Annabeth stayed behind and was talking to Chiron. Skandar caught up with Leo, his face worried. Leo's face was even darker, he was scared for Piper and Jason and worried for how he was going to lead a quest with 2 untrained demigods.

"You're ok right? I'm sorry if you think I'm going to be a burden", Skandar confessed.

Leo grinned, "Chill, I've hardly been here 2 months myself. Just scared that I'm leading you guys to your murders"

"Don't worry, we have Mika the Fact Machine"

"It's amazing how she remembers all that!"

"She's always been amazing, well as long as I've known her at least"

Suspicion passed through Leo. What if Skandar was more than Mika's best friend? He wasn't completely sure, but he wouldn't like that too much. The quest might be awkward if that was what was going on. Skandar recognized the expression on Leo's face.

"Man, it's not like that! That would be like having a crush on a sister! I don't even have a crush on Lucy! You know about 5 boys in our grade had a crush on Lucy. But, actually 4 boys had a crush on Mika. She never went out with any of them, she's more of the _Boys-are-my-friends-and-only-a-few-are-more-than-that-and-even-fewer-are-going-to-get-anywhere-with-me."_

"Oh, really, so which ones got anywhere with her?" 

"Only one actually, the farthest they got was holding hands."

"Well, that's kind of surprising…"

Skandar cocked an eyebrow and realized the truth, "Ohhh! That's why!"

"What? What's why?"

"You like her don't you?"

"No… No I don't…"

Skandar wasn't convinced, "Yes, you do! You like her!"

This went on until Leo finally confessed and started asking Skandar whom he liked. Skandar swore he didn't like anyone, which was true. He trusted Leo and Leo trusted him. They went to their cabins and Skandar went to find a bow and some arrows. Meanwhile Mika had gone to the Weaponry with Annabeth and Lucy. She was hoping to find a weapon that would fit to her.

"What about a dagger?" Annabeth asked. She held out a dagger similar to her own, Mika took the hilt and swung out. It didn't feel right.

"No, I don't think I could work with a dagger."

"What about one of these" Lucy joked. It was a huge club with spikes on it.

"I don't think so", answered Mika in a short and teasing way. They tried axes, knives and a lot of other things, when Mika got frustrated and sat down on one of the musty benches.

"I need a weapon that can change form!" she suddenly said.

"What?" Lucy was puzzled.

"Mika's right. She will need a weapon like Jason's"

Mika was fumbling with her locket and it suddenly started to glow. Not sure what she was doing, she tugged at it and it came off. It had merged into a sword made of bronze, it was medium sized with a polished wood handle that was rimmed with some kind of metal. In a line on hilt were 3 stones that looked like the one on the locket. There was a blue, an orange and a purplish-pink gem. Blue was the biggest, about the size of a square Lego piece, then orange and last came purplish-pink.

"How did that happen?" Annabeth had never see anything like it.

"I think I pressed the gem on the locket" Mika explained. "Like this" She pressed the blue gem on the sword and immediately it disappeared. She pressed the gem on her locket and it appearing in her hand again.

Lucy's eyes were wide, "Wow! Lemme see!" She grabbed the sword and suddenly let out a yelp. She dropped the sword and started caressing her hand. "It burned me! Don't touch it Mika!"

But Mika wasn't listening, she bent down and picked it off the rotten wooden floorboards. Nothing happened. She didn't feel anything. "I guess only I can hold it then!"

Annabeth was surprised, she'd never seen anything like it and suddenly something clicked in her head. "Mika, press one of the gems on the sword hilt"

"Good idea!" She pressed the orange gem and the sword changed form, to a whip. It was amazing! The handle was a dark mahogany and also had 3 gems on it, the same order with the same size. But this time they were going down vertically down the slim, but long handle.

"Try the purple one now!" Lucy was getting very excited and watched as Mika pressed the purple one. The whip disappeared, now to be replaced by a beautiful, silver spear with ornate designs all over it. In contrast, the tip was sharp and deadly, it glinted in the square of sunlight that shone through the window. "Wow! So does this mean I have 3 weapons? They all feel balanced to me!"

"I think so!" Annabeth replied, "Let's go show it to the others!"

"But what about Lucy?"

"I think she has a weapon already"

"Really? Show me, Lucy!"

Lucy held out her hand and showed her a ring. She turned the little circle on it and it contracted outwards until it was a bronze disk with points around the edge.

"I call it _Asteri__, _which is star in English"

"But what does it do?"

"I can't show you in here, let's go outside."

They walked out and the sunlight momentarily blinded them, it was really bright after the dimness of the Weaponry. The walked into the arena and Lucy poised in the position of an archer. Drawing her hand back she threw the star, which spinning round and round, cut straight through one of the dummy's throat. Mika watched the head thud on the ground with awe and asked Lucy, "Where did you find that?"

"I didn't. Nico found it one of the times when he was shadow travelling and had to rest somewhere. He gave to me."

Mika cocked an eyebrow, "He gave it to you?"

"Yes" Lucy tried to sound casual, but she remembered how he had been all shy and given to her, mumbling something about not needing it. She blushed.

"Oooh la la!" Mika teased her.

"Hey! It's not like that. Annabeth, tell her it's not like that!" Lucy exclaimed.

"It is", was Annabeth's reply as she gave her a sarcastically sweet smile.

"Annabeth!" she pushed the hip against her, making Annabeth stumble, but unfortunately not hurting her self, using battle instincts to jump out of her way.

"I wish I could do that!" Mika sighed.

"You can, it'll just take some practice. Why don't we see how skilled you are?" Annabeth offered.

"Ummm. Ok, I guess…" Mika was hesitant.

"Hey, Will! Come over here a sec" Annabeth shouted out. The head of the Apollo cabin turned from talking to Miranda of the Demeter cabin and jogged over to them. "What's up?"

"Well, Mika here is new and I'm going to ask you to test her archery"

"She's a daughter of Poseidon. She's gonna be about as good as Percy. Which is not good."

"Let her try!"

"Ok!" He reached over his shoulder and took an arrow form his quiver, then placed it on his bow. The archery targets where right next to the arena so the group walked over. It was a cool place, circled by a few scattered trees and the arena on the other. There where about 8 targets, of which about 5 were being used. Will walked about 3 metres away from a target and shot. His aim was true and it hit just a little outside the bulls eye.

Mika's eyes were wide as she took the bow and another arrow. She placed the arrow on the string, aimed and shot. Nowhere near the centre. It flew right past the target and nearly got Skandar on the forehead. He ducked in the last minute and it impaled itself in a tree. She kept on trying and kept on missing, until Skandar asked,

"Can I try now? It doesn't look like Mika's going to get better in even if she stayed here the rest of the afternoon" He stuck his tongue out at Mika and borrowed Will's weapon. He shot and the arrow whizzed, sticking in the dead centre! Demigods at nearby targets stopped and went over to look, which of course interested others. But strangely nobody was saying anything.

Well it was kind of surprising wasn't it? Skandar thought. A new demigod making a bulls eye? But then again he was a son of Apollo.

The lunch conch blowing interrupted the silence and laughter rung as demigods dispersed into their little groups. After congratulating Skandar, Will ran off to retrieve all the stray arrows that Mika had shot, he decided to leave the one that Skandar had shot until lunch was finished. Rumors needed proof, didn't they? And rumors were what were going to happen.

Mika fell in step with Annabeth and Skandar was hounded away by Lucy and a few of her friends, they circled him and questioned him on all sorts of things. Mika smiled, some things never changed.

After lunch alone on the Poseidon table, she decided to ask Annabeth if she could teach her how to use the sword. Annabeth agreed and they walked to the arena, flanked by Lucy, Grover, Leo and Skandar. Grover took Lucy off to the side, deciding to see what she could to with her nature powers. They ended up making a tree do the Macarena and growing seeds into full-grown flowers. Leo practiced with his hammers and Skandar went off to the archery to shoot a few targets. He had already gotten a bow and a quiver full of all types of awesome arrows.

Annabeth led Mika to the middle of the arena and held up her borrowed sword. She showed Mika how to hold the sword and a few simple techniques. Mika was a fast learner and Annabeth pressed her hard. Jump, slash, duck, slice. She ended up managing to defeat Annabeth a small duel, it was amazing, her instincts had kicked up. By the time it was evening she was hot and sweaty, but extremely happy. This was where she belonged, this was something she could do.

She said bye to Leo and hit the showers. She toweled her hair dry, she'd given them a good wash, seeing as she wasn't likely to be washing them anytime soon. Putting on jeans and her camp t-shirt, Mika hung her mini-bag on her shoulder. She had put another pair of jeans, a t-shirt and a sweater, that she had on the day she came here and were now freshly washed, in her sleepover pack.

She also packed: underclothes, deodorant, water bottle, some snacks she had bought at the camp store, sleeping bag and a first aid. She put a flashlight, hairbrush and a few other toiletries in the front pocket of her pack. Her mini-bag was as always filled with her paper cutter, iPhone, money, keys, lip balm, notebook and pen. She wasn't sure why she had kept her keys but she just felt like she should keep them.

She left her pack on her bed and walked over to the mess hall for dinner. She couldn't believe that she was actually here and that she was going on a quest! It was too good to be true.

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Mahi **


	13. Pegasus

Pegasus

The next morning Mika walked up to the mess hall with her pack, sidebag and locket. She was ready object wise. But not training wise. She had practiced nearly all of yesterday but it didn't seem like enough. Leo saw her approaching and waved, smiling. At least he was coming with, it was a comforting thought and she smiled up at him. She caught with him and the walked the rest of the journey together.

"So you ready to kick some monster butt?" Leo asked.

"If by kicking some monster butt, you mean throwing up on them then I'm more than ready!"

"Aw, come on Mika it isn't that bad!"

"Well, you have actually had some practice here, I've hardly been here 2 days."

"I went on my quest even sooner then this!"

"Yeah, well you had Jason who had a lot of training."

"He had less than half is memory!"

"True, well. I guess we'll just have to try and live through this one."

"Man, you are so pessimistic"

"I've noticed"

He laughed, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to take drastic measures now!" He advanced on her, wiggling his fingers and a second too late Mika realized what he was going to do. He tickled her on his stomach and her neck and few minutes later Mika was doubled over, nearly crying for laughing!

He stopped and laughed with her. This was going to work, he looked up at the slowly lightening sky and thought about the ship. It was nearly finished, he'd attached the head mast yesterday. Festus' head looked awesome on the ship! The one thing was left was the little spot right after the prow, it refused to be boarded up or filled and that was probably the place where the magical wood would go. Magical wood, it was hilarious, it was like saying that your life depended on a pencil.

Suddenly he was aware of Mika waving her hands in front of his face, "Are you still on Earth, Leo!"

He snapped out of his thoughts and replied, "I am now"

She smiled and asked him, "It's about the ship, right? I saw it, it's amazing!"

Thankful, he patted her back. "Thanks". At that point they entered the nearly empty mess hall (it was very early) and went off to their separate tables. "Bye."

"Bye" She was blushing slightly.

Goosebumps were slowly disappearing from the spots where he had tickled her. She was more aware of her back as she piled her plate and went over to the fire. Silently she sent a prayer to Poseidon, Hephaestus and Apollo. _Please give us good luck for this quest and protect Skandar; he still has no idea what's actually happening. I hope that you guys will help us when we have no other way of escape._

She scraped her best piece of cheese and bread of the plate and watched it burn in the fire. The smell of the ocean air, of fire and a sunny day rose and engulfed her. She walked over to the Athena table where everyone was sitting, talking about the prophecy.

Annabeth hadn't touched her food and as Mika sat down started explained her theory, "I think I know what the '12th region' means and what the 'cave of weddings' is." The 20th region is the 20th largest state in the U.S, which is Minnesota. The cave of weddings is probably one the caves where they host weddings."

"I know what the 'harmonious city' is!" Lucy said proudly, "My aunt used to live in a city in Minnesota, it's called Harmony!"

"Well that fit's perfectly to the description." Annabeth laughed, "Who knew it was that obvious?"

She took her laptop out, clicked around a little and then showed them a diagram. It was of a cave called the Niagara Cave. The diagram focused on the largest room that wasn't used for anything, as it was so loud because a waterfall ran through it.

"According to Daedalus' notes, his Labyrinth office used to teleport outside the cave sometimes and he would study the place a little, finding it interesting." Annabeth informed us.

"So all we need is a way of transport to the place and we'll be ok!" Grover said, enthusiastically. They had mentally decided that that was where Annabeth's group was going to go.

"I thought a bit overnight about 'the new county' I think it's meant to be a state that was new in the name and is named after another place in the world." Mika stated.

Random names where shouted out, "New York?"

"New Jersey?"

"New Mexico?"

"New Hampshire?"

"Well, actually New Hampshire was named after some place in Britain. I think it was one of the places where the children got evacuated during the war. Something with county I know at least" Skandar offered.

"You're right! Hampshire was a home county, I guess that's where we're headed." Mika decided.

This time Leo piped up, "So how are we getting there? We can't travel by land and Zeus will make any thing that we get too high in the air go BOOM! The ship isn't ready yet, it can't fly without the magical piece of wood and there are no ways to get to any of the states with a boat."

Mika's eyes lit up, "Annabeth, have the search parties for Percy returned?"

"Yes. Why?"

"How about we use the Pegasi?"

"Great idea!" Grover shot up and lead them to the stables, their breakfasts lay abandoned on the Athena table.

Mika couldn't contain her excitement, she ran ahead and into the stables. She loved horses ever since she was 8 years old, she would do to a riding camp every summer. Her favourite horse was a beautiful bay called Sansibar. He was so cute! And she remembered how he would never lift his hoof to let her clean it and he would nod his head in her top, begging for treats. As she walked through the abandoned stable she heard many voices in her head.

"_A Daughter of Poseidon?"_

"_Welcome mistress!"_

"_Where are you from?"_

"_Got any carrots?"_

"_Or sugarcubes?"_

She walked to the stall where a black pegasus with elegant long wings stood, he lifted his head up and his ears popped up. "_You're Boss' sister! Holy Poseidon! I didn't think I'd feel this presence 'till Boss disappeared! Lately I've had no one to give me sugar cubes, no one to call boss, no one to go on near-death adventures on, and no one that could actually understand what I wanted… ", the horse whined._

"Hello Blackjack. I've heard a lot about you." She patted his head and went on, "You know what? We're going on a quest and then we're going to your boss! We'll find him." She said in a soothing voice.

"_Really? In that case can I go with you?"_

Mika was surprised, "But doesn't Percy only ride you? He got kind of mad when Rachel took you to camp at the 2nd Titan War."

"_You don't have to ride me, I can just come with"_

"I think it's better if you stay here and we'll whistle when we find Percy, ok?"

The winged-horse stomped his foot and replied, _"Fine. But I was really dying for a ride. You're his sister, can't you just take me for a little ride?"_

"Half-sister, but whatever. Let's see if I can ride a Pegasus, why don't we?"

Mika went to the room full of saddles and got out the one that had Blackjack's name written over it. On the way she quickly took a hoof pick as well, it might be useful. She saddled him up, put the bridle on, checked the stirrups of they were her size and mounted him. Using her thoughts to navigate him, she trotted him out of the stables. They met the others on the way.

She smiled and softly kicked his sides, she enjoyed as he took off in a burst of speed and she was in the cool sky. It was the most amazing sensation ever! She felt like she herself were the one flying, not just Blackjack, they were one thing. They soared through the pale blue skies and she laughed with joy. She felt like she was born to ride a Pegasus and looked like that too. From the ground, the other questers looked at her in wonder.

"She's even better than Silena was!" Grover exclaimed.

"That's probably because she's ridden horses before." Annabeth answered.

"She really looks like she was born to fly" Leo said, awed.

"She loves horses!" Skandar and Lucy voiced together. They had, had to listen to her drone on and on about her summer at horse camp and all the things that happened.

Everyone laughed and chose their own Pegasi. Annabeth decided that there would be 2 Pegasi per group, because the camp would need the other Pegasi for emergencies and classes. Annabeth took a chestnut Pegasus called Guido and a yellow-brown dun called Porkpie. Guido was strong and Porkpie looked like she was very agile, the perfect pair. Leo and Skandar chose a red roan mare called Angelfire and a golden palomino named Stardust. They were both about the same size, but Angelfire was more skilled, while Stardust was faster.

Mika came down with Blackjack and patted Angelfire on the forehead; she whinnied in response and said in her mind "_Nice to meet you, daughter of Poseidon"_

"Thanks Angelfire, nice to meet you too."

They got some last minute supplies like some extra nectar and ambrosia and Skandar got a retractable spear in case he ran out of arrows. Annabeth found a coil of rope and stuffed it in her backpack, if they were going in a cave that might be a good thing to have in case there were any crevices etc.

"So we're headed to Harmony in Minnesota and you guys are headed for New Hampshire!" Lucy remarked.

"Yeah, we have no idea where in New Hampshire we have to go. We don't know where the 'shrine guarded by many a black soul' is!" Mika complained.

"But New Hampshire is closer to here, so you have more time than us in the place, it's kind of like a compromise." Annabeth put in as she shuffled in her saddlebag.

She and Lucy were going to share Guido and Grover would take Porkpie. Skandar also had some experience with horses, but not as much as Mika and Leo had none at all, so Mika decided that she and Leo would share Angelfire while Skandar would take Stardust. Each group had some form of a map with them, so they were ready. They said their goodbyes.

Mika walked up to Lucy and pulled her in a tight hug, "Stay alive, ok?"

Lucy giggled, "Well that's something I plan on doing!"

Mika giggled back and Lucy added, "Don't worry Mika, everything's going to work out, somehow. Good always wins, remember?"

"Yeah!"

"Yeah!" Lucy pumped her fist in the air and her infectious enthusiasm spread. Everyone laughed and finished their bye's, they mounted their horses, Annabeth's group left first. They were going on opposite directions so it was pointless to take off together. It would just attract more monsters.

Just before Leo's group was about to take off, Chiron trotted up and called out, "Wait!"

They stopped and waited for Chiron to come to them. The centaur walked up to Skandar and gave him a piece of paper, "This is from your father."

He then turned to the whole group, "I believe that your group is less experienced than the other group."

"Yes" Mika stepped up.

"But your team is more balanced."

Mika raised her eyebrow, confused, "In what sense, Chiron?"

"There are qualities in all of you that balance out the others. You make up for each others' weaknesses, in a more simple way."

She nodded, but both boys were a more confused. Chiron noticed and explained, "Let's take for example, that Skandar is unable to swim, then Leo here might have the skill to build a temporary boat."

They seemed to understand, so Mika asked one last question, "Are Tyson and Mrs. O' Leary still looking for Percy?"

"Yes, I suggest that you find what you are looking for as fast as possible and then head back here so that we can follow any leads that they find."

"I have a feeling. I have a feeling that we are going to find something soon."

Nodding, Chiron told them to leave for their quest, it was already late morning and they only had 3 days. At this they mounted their Pegasi and with a burst of speed, they took off. Leo yelped as he was nearly thrown off and wrapped his arms around Mika's waist. She blushed and a tingly feeling warmed where his skin met hers. Skandar held tight onto Stardust, they were going extremely fast. Mika gave whoop of excitement and urged Angelfire on. Leo squeezed her tighter and grinning said,

"OK know I'm freaking out, Clam Head can you stop riding like a maniac?"

At this Mika responded by going even faster and saying, "I'm not a Clam Head and I thought you were the hero!" she teased.

"Yeah but I'm not planning on suicide!"

"Oh don't worry, I'll try not to let you fall!"

"TRY?"

She giggled and slowed Angelfire down. Leo relaxed a bit and asked Skandar, "Does she always have a screw loose?"

"Oh she can be worse. Once she threatened to knock my teeth out if I didn't help her."

Leo laughed, "And did you?" he turned to Mika.

"Nah, he jumped like a rabbit and obeyed my every command."

"Yeah right" Skandar said sarcastically, "The only time she ever really hit someone was when this bully started threatening Lucy on doing her week's homework or something like that."

Mika smirked, "Oh she never dared talk to Lucy again."

"What about your parents?" Leo started fidgeting with his sleeve.

She winced, "They…"

"They?"

"Nothing, I didn't say anything"

"Come on Mika! I bet they just grounded you or something, right?"

She was saved from answered when a group of weird looking bird headed straight to them, their eyes as red as blood and their claws as sharp as knifes.

"We have company!" Skandar yelled.

**Thanks for reading! And sorry for the delay! If you have any questions, you can ask me!**

**~Mahi **


	14. Sun

Sun

_She was saved from answering when a group of weird looking bird headed straight to them, their eyes as red as blood and their claws as sharp as knifes. _

"_We have company!" Skandar yelled. _

Stardust dove up, over the birds, whilst Angelfire went under. While they were nearly on the ground, Leo jumped off Angelfire and brandished his silver-topped hammers. They simply knew what to do, Skandar began shooting from above with his bow and arrow, at which the birds decided to lower themselves. Leo hit them one by one with his hammer and Mika flitted around the birds, using her sword to cut through them. Once they reached the ground, Leo would set them ablaze, by pointing his hammer at them, so that they couldn't reform.

Their plan seemed to be going good, except for the fact that Leo had to fight while setting the monster dust on fire, making him tire very fast. The birds were recovering from the demigods' sudden attack and fighting back, their claws raked at their skin and their eyes, distracted them from fighting. Thinking fast, Mika dove down under, to Leo's side and yelled at Skandar to do the same. They now stood back to back and the Pegasus' were galloping around them.

"Skandar just hack at the birds with this!" Mika gave him her paper-cutter/knife. "Leo don't worry about killing the birds, just set them on fire!"

She then began hacking at the birds with her sword, she was missing more than she liked, but couldn't avoid it. Suddenly she felt intense heat surrounding her and looked over at Skandar who was glowing almost as bright as the sun! The birds cawed at the bright light and withdrew a little. Mika took advantage of this and with her sword she sent out waves of water in both directions, knocking the birds off balance. Then Leo set them on fire, she helped him a little by turning the birds to dust, which was easier to burn than the actual monster. The red-orange flames licked the golden dust, which disappeared. Skandar was looking shocked and looking at his hands that were still slightly glowing. And in the blink of an eye, it was all over.

Leo fell to the ground, tired and Skandar was _still _glowing. Mika knew what she had to do, summoning energy she sent a wave of water on him, dousing out the light, but at the same time making him dripping wet. He just stood there, water dripping from his nose and hair.

The sight was rather funny and she started giggling, "Skandar are you O.K?"

"Do I look O.K? 2 seconds ago I was glowing like a lamp and now I'm sopping wet!" He glared at her.

She smiled sheepishly, "Well at least you're not 'glowing like a lamp' anymore!" she offered.

At that moment Leo got up, Mika looked worried, "Are you really tired, can you still ride?"

Leo grinned, " 'course! I've done much worse! Hey Skandar, what's it like being a sun?"

Skandar glared at him, "I have no idea what just happened and why don't we move on so we can cover ground and find a good place to stay."

They agreed and climbed back onto the Pegasi, but not before Mika checked of they were severely hurt. Nothing, just a few scratches.

Then Mika had an idea, "Skandar?"

"Yeah?"

"Your dad is Apollo, the god of prophecies, the sun and healing, right?"

"Yes…"

"So can't you heal as well?"

His eyes lit up, "Great idea!"

His patted her back and slipped off his Pegasus. He kneeled on the crumbly ground of the meadow and placed his hand on Stardust's knee. His face scrunched up in concentration, they saw his hand glow the same colour that he had been moments before, bright as the sun. But it flickered out in seconds, when he removed his hand, there was no difference in Stardust's cut. Angelfire whinnied and began nibbling a piece of grass among the many wildflowers. There were all sorts of colours, red, blue, purple, yellow and so many more. The Pegasus nickered and stuck his nose in Skandar's hand. The boy chuckled and after petting him, he went back to trying to heal the cut.

Mika and Leo watched intensely as he tried several more times, soon his skin was burning hot and his palms were slippery. But he didn't give up and on his 5th attempt he managed to somewhat heal the cut. A huge smile broke out on his face and he wiped his hands in his jeans. The other two cheered, but suddenly Mika frowned.

"We're wasting time! We have to move, or else we'll never get there in time!"

Skandar looked up at the sky, the sun was blazing through the center of the sapphire blue sky. "It's already afternoon, Mika's right." He got back on Stardust and pulled the reigns. Neighing, the Pegasus took off into the sky. Mika and Leo followed on Angelfire. They zoomed through the sky like racing eagles.

**Thanks for reading! And sorry for the delay! If you have any questions, you can ask me!**

**~Mahi **


	15. Questions

Questions

The wind whipped in her face and Mika smiled, she could do this forever. Leo was asleep behind her, still gently gripping her waist and she blushed at his touch. Her heart was still beating and she was getting this tugging feeling in her belly everytime he moved and the pleasant tingles rushed through her again. Skandar then asked, "He's something isn't he?"

Mika was distracted and answered, "Huh? What? Leo?"

"Yeah" he looked indifferent as the wind blew in his sandy curls. But she saw the look in his sky blue eyes, protectiveness.

She smiled, "Don't worry Skandar, there is nothing between us yet."

He still looked unfazed, "Yet."

"Come on don't give me that face! You know I can read you like a book!"

"Humph!" he looked away and pouted.

"Plus" her face turned serious, "I'm worried about Piper and Jason. I don't know what happened to them and we need them!"

"I've been thinking about that." Skandar replied. Mika's feelings dropped, she felt so selfish, this was the first time since she found she was going on the quest that she had actually given thought to them.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Well my best guess is that Gaia kidnapped them as hostages or to get something from them."

Mika nodded, "I would have thought it was for information, but she knows everything about us already."

"But I don't think she knows about us" he gestured at them, "And about Lucy."

"I highly doubt that, she's the Earth Goddess, she'd almost everywhere."

"And she _was _asleep! Why don't we just sing her a lullaby and wait for her to fall asleep?!"

Mika looked at him weirdly, "Skandar, I know you're smarter than that! Gaia isn't a baby that we can put to sleep!"

He looked sheepish and smiled, "Yeah, I know. But I'm frustrated and I'm not smart when I'm frustrated."

"Well, maybe we should clear our heads." Mika suggested.

Skandar raised an eyebrow, "And how do we do that?"

"Say all the things that we have to do! I'll start! Close the Doors of Death."

"Find Piper and Jason."

"Find the Wood of Dodona."

"Find the manna flowers."

"Find Percy."

"Don't murder the Romans."

"What else?"

"Find out the mystery of the Fleece."

"And the most obvious one: Defeat Gaia!" Skandar practically yelled. He continued in a quieter voice as they passed a small stream, "How are we supposed to do all that!?"

"Believe me, it was just like this the last time there was a fight against evil and all that!" she answered, gesticulating with her hands.

"Why were we dragged into this anyway?"

"Basically we were born." Mika said, smiling, "I know screwed up, isn't it?"

"Just because one of our parents is a god." Skandar slapped his face with his palm.

"So even the gods aren't perfect!"

"Oh, they're far from perfect." Mika said dryly, "They would be normal adults if not for the fact that they have powers and are immortal, well a bunch of pretty arrogant adults…" she was interrupted by a rumble in the sky. "Well sorry Zeus, but it's true!" she shouted up to the sky.

"Mika?" Leo woke up and said groggily. "Why are you shouting at the sky?"

"I'm talking to my dear uncle." Mika said sarcastically.

Leo grinned "You might not want to shout at him, he'll probably blast you out of the sky!" he made hand-motions, "And then we'd be stuck on this quest."

She fake-pouted, "Well let me remind you that you're on the same Pegasus, so you would be blasted into pieces as well!"

"Fine, fine! We should talk about something more important, like what this 'shrine guarded by many a black soul' is." Skandar suggested.

"Well, I have a feeling it is a shrine dedicated to Gaia somewhere in this modern 'Forest of Dodona" Mika looked at the distant city under them.

"Why Gaia? She's supposed to be the bad guy!" Leo asked.

"I think she had something to do with the Woods of Dodona, I think Zeus gifted the oracle Dodona to Gaia and a shrine was built of the oracle for Gaia. Something like that." Mika thought out loud.

"Aha, that's why." Skandar replied.

They were quiet for a while when Leo commented, "I think we've busted the energy tanks of the Pegasi, let's land somewhere for the day."

Mika looked at her watch, "It's only six!"

Skandar ran his hands through the smooth coat of the proud palomino and commented, "I think we should give these guys a break, Stardust is already sweating and we need to find a place to spend the night."

Mika nodded as she looked up at the sky, "Well all right. Let's find a place to stay the night and get something to eat."

"Food sounds good! I'm so hungry I could eat a Pegasus!" Leo rubbed his stomach.

Angelfire and Stardust whinnied and Mika laughed, "He doesn't mean it literally, guys!" she petted Angelfire, "Come on girl let's find a place to land."

A while later, they had landed in a deserted field and tied their Pegasi to a tree. In the distance they could see the city. It wasn't exactly like New York City, jam-packed with people and with flashing lights everywhere, but it was fairly busy.

Skandar looked at his map, "According to this we should be in New Hampshire, in Manchester!"

Mika nodded and then sighed, "Great, now we just have to figure out where the hell we're supposed to be going!"

Leo looked up from patting Angelfire and asked him, "I just remembered! What about that piece of paper that Chiron gave you, remember he said that it was from Hephaestus?"

Skandar slapped his forehead, "Shoot! I forgot!" he hurriedly removed it from his jeans pocket and unfolded it.

Mika's face scrunched up as the parchment crinkled, "But Skandar, you never forget anything!"

Skandar looked up, "I don't know, it's really weird!" answering her silent _why_.

Leo started reading the note and then suddenly went pale. "We're in trouble guys!"

**A/N: I'm sooooooooooooooo sorry for not updating! I will be faster from now on, virtual pinky promise! ;) **

**Hope you liked it and please, please, please review!**

**~Mahi 3**


	16. Laugh

Laugh

They were sitting in an almost empty café by the suburbs of New Hampshire. Mika was drinking milk-coffee and wolfing down a sandwich. Leo and Skandar were drinking coke and eating burgers. The note from Apollo rested in the middle of the table and they were studying it while eating. Leo finished first and read over it.

Mika finished chewing, "Read it out loud"

He nodded, "Ok it says:

A deadly dragon

Python, he hates me a lot

He will find you soon

Your awesome powers

Will help you bust his bottom

But don't kill him please

She spat her coffee right past Skandar's ear and started cracking up. Between loud laughs, she gasped out, "What…. Was…. That! Holy Poseidon….. that….worst… poem.."

Tears fell from her eyes as she laughed, until Skandar threw a tomato slice at her face. Glaring it him, she peeling the sludgy vegetable off her face and tossed it in a garbage can. "You should be happy I'm a nice person or else that slimy existence would be in your movie-style hair!" she was still glaring at him.

He chuckled and ruffled his sandy brown wavy hair, "Why thank you I happen to like my Hollywood hair!"

Leo lightly punched him, "Shut up! Don't brag to those with snakes for hair!"

"I don't see Medusa anywhere, oh wait she's sitting right next to me!" Skandar burst out into laugher as Leo reddened and Maia giggled, "Oh BURN!"

The son of Hephaestus pushed the other boy off the bench and poured his coke over his hair, "There! Now you can have sticky, bee-attracting hair for the rest of this quest!" He got up, "Oh and by the way you're so ugly that when your mom dropped you off to school on the first day, she got fined for littering."

Maia literally collapsed on the floor laughing and in a louder voice than before she nearly shouted, "YOU JUST GOT _DISSED_!"

Skandar crossed his arms over his chest and looked away from her, "Who's side are you on?"

She smiled and then went over to him, hugged him and in a babying voice said, "Aww, is my poor baby sad? Does he feel betrayed? You know I love you!"

He snorted, his light brown eyes twinkling and hugged her back, "I know."

Leo watched this exchange with a sad feeling that bubbled in his stomach, he could never have that close relationship with her. Shaking his head, he remember the horrible haikus, "Um guys can we please get back to the giant fire-breathing lizard that wants to turn us into human toast?"

Maia's head whipped up, "Yeah, right, don't want to be dragon breakfast." She sat back down and started to explain, "When Leto was pregnant with Apollo and Artemis, Hera was really jealous and so she sent the earth-dragon after her. When Apollo was finally born he chased Python to the sacred site of Delphi and killed him. He had to be punished because Python was a son of Gaia and had to preside over the Pythian Games."

Leo shook his head, "Dayum! Why does this always happen to us!"

Maia put her head in her hands, "It's like we have the worst luck in the whole entire universe!" she stood up and then mumbled, "And I thought I had bad luck before"

Skandar chuckled and patted her back, "Come on, I think we should find a place to sleep for the night and we can fly tomorrow early in the morning."

"Ok! Let's go!" she took her tray and went inside the shop.

Skandar was watching her go with a worried expression in his face. Leo poked him and gave him a questioning glance. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair, "I'm worried about her, she's never been the most athletic type and I don't know if she would be able to keep up."

Leo laughed, "I don't think she'll have problem keeping up, dude. She's like 4 years in front of us in this mess of a life!"

"I know, but she's had enough pain and messedupness in her life already! I just think she doesn't need this and that she deserves to live a good life!" his face was tense.

"Pain? What pain?" the Hispanic boy sat down, "Damn! It's like I'm the only clueless monkey here!"

Skandar raised his pale eyebrow, "Clueless monkey?"

Leo was messing up his hair, "Never mind. Let's get going!"

"Coming!" Maia yelled.

The American boy yelled back, "Hurry up before we leave you behind!"

Her voice came ringing back, "Yeah right, like you would survive 5 minutes with out me!"

"Don't underestimate the power of a teenage boy, Maia!" Leo called.

She came jogging into sight, "Yeah, the power to stuff your faces, sleep and play video games!"

Skandar and Leo both made hurt expressions and put their hands over their chests, "You hurt us!" Skandar wailed.

"It burns!" Leo whined and put his hand on his forehead in the most comical way.

"Get over it wimps!" she hit both of their heads and paraded forward. "Let's go before the big scawy dwagon finds us, children!" she looked back and made a babying face.

"Yes, mother!" they echoed in unison.

About a second later, they all burst out laughing and laughed their way down the busy street to where their Pegasi were waiting.

Not far enough away a woman smiled in her sleep, her thoughts echoed for miles and every Greek, Roman and monster shivered, "_So which team will lose first?"_

**A/N: I'm sooooooooooooooo sorry for not updating! My laptop kinda fell into a river... Anyways I hope you liked it and reviews make my day :p**

**~Mahi 3**


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